Garage Makeover and Over

We did some cosmetics on my garage today. In other words, covered up some major flaws. Like not being able to park my car in it...again. Mission accomplished on that one at least. We are under cover now from the elements. Tomorrow is trash day too, so we chose wisely the right day to lighten our load around here. The curb now features various unwanted items for pick up.

The hardest work of the day didn't involve physical objects though, but very tender, broken human emotions. How easy it is to fix an ugly garage, compared to fixing family misunderstandings. Someone wisely said, "I am responsible for what I say. I am not responsible for what you understand." Therefore, responsibility usually falls on both parties, and how sweet it is when we come together and accept that responsibility and put our differences behind us.

I am happy about my garage looking more presentable, but even happier tonight that one of my most valuable family relationships is looking better too. Because if there's one thing I don't want to end up on my curb, it's family peace and harmony.

A few years ago, when our grass was actually green!

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Another day with my brother-in-law, who's visiting this weekend. He and my nephew straightened up the garage for us...again. I was concerned that I couldn't pull my car all the way in last night when they were predicting hailstorms, so they worked hard to condense things and throw away some more items. There must be something in all that "stuff" in the garage that's reproducing, because it seems to grow every time we turn our backs.

Rees suggested a clever item that would prevent me from driving in too far and hitting some of that precious "stuff" we're talking about. He's seen people hang a ball on a string from the garage ceiling so when the ball touches the front window of your car, you know to stop. We couldn't find a ball that would work, so we made a ball out of Playdoh. I can't wait to go somewhere and try it out.

Isn't that the way the Ten Commandments work? They tell us when to stop our behavior, before we crash and make a mess of our lives. As I've been instructed to keep my eye on the ball, the Playdoh ball, we need to keep our eye on the Ten Commandments. That ball isn't strong enough to make me stop the car though. I still have to apply the brakes. And that's how it is with the Ten Commandments. They won't make me stop; they'll just tell me when to.

All the commandments but two begin with "Thou shalt not". A definite indicator to stop doing something. The fourth and fifth commandments, on the other hand, begin with something to do--first to remember to honor God on His Sabbath and also to honor our parents all our lives. They are the heart of God's law. They are the "ball" we are to keep our eye on, in order to have the strength, the brakes, to keep the rest of the commandments.

God knows how to keep us from crashing.

Garage and Mind Clutter

Winter is baring down in Nebraska pretty fast and one of the preps many of us are facing this fall is organizing our garages, and in my case, clearing out the clutter of three generations (parents' house we had to empty and daughter's overflow from their small apartment, not to mention 12 years of my belongings that no longer "belong").

Thanks to my nephew, I can now pull my car completely into the garage and even have room on both sides for entering and exiting the car doors! There is no way I could have achieved this garage remake were it not for his help and a neighbor's truck to haul it all off.

I am reminded of all my mind clutter collected over the years. Without God's help every day, I am in danger of getting lost in the shuffle of unneeded and even harmful mind clutter. Clutter can be neutral (neither harmful nor beneficial), but all of it can have a negative impact if it takes up room that should be reserved for God and His plans for my life.

The best things to store in our mind's garage are passages from the Bible. How amazing that our brains are built for unlimited storage room for this valuable commodity--God's Word. It will never go out of style, become unsightly, or lose its value. And ultimately we will end up looking as beautiful to the world as my garage now looks to the neighbors driving by.