Cleaning Out The Closet

Okay so it's that time of year again, well at least for me it is, time to go through the closet. For me it is somewhat of a chore, have to bring all my winter clothing up from Arkansas to Nebraska which means I need to move my summers stuff out. It is always so time consuming and such a headache. Because although it may be 40 or 50 degrees here who knows what it will be like in the south 70 or 80. The weather theses days really makes packing a head headache. 


Growing up my dad always threatened to take the door of mine and my sisters closet because we never could seem to shut the door. I think back now, why did I have to be a neat freak about my closet? Why did I not just shove everything in the closet? I've done that with parts of my life, compartmentalized it, whatever is behind the door is unseen. I have to pick on my sister I love her oh I love her but that girl I am not sure why she has a closet because it always looks like her closet has thrown up in her room from the time we were kids it has been this way. I have my moments if there is a chair or a cedar chest or whatever it turns into okay I tried this on not wearing don't have time to hang it up catch all. I try to clean the catch all up once a week. Closets are a neat thing you can put anything in them. Thinking back to my parents house one closet has dad's military stuff in it another has all mine and my moms formal dresses. Each dress holds a memory but sometimes you just got to get rid of stuff...keep reading I'll get back to memories in a minute...


So back to cleaning out my closet.... it's that awful thing many women hate doing well and if your part of my family any of them just because as my dad says "you never know when you will need that", thus he has 2 sheds, a lean too and 3 extra bedrooms in their house used for storage! I sure love my Dad even if he likes to keep the extra parts for a toy that no longer works cause he might need it. I've learned to accept he throws nothing away and what he doesn't know will never hurt him....well unless there comes day and he asks hey where is _____, and none of us have an answer because we threw it away or because its from 1970s and we've never heard of it. 


Okay enough picking on Dad! We hate cleaning out the closet. I have heard and done it so many times myself said "well I might wear it one day when..." um hello lovely you said that 3 years ago and you can tell because the shirt has permanent hanger marks. Then there is the "well I might loose some weight and then..." or there is the opposite "well I might gain a little weight" or what if.... 


What if you just got rid of it! WHAT! I know I'm surprised at myself for saying this because I can get rid of a shirt here a pair of pants there but to get rid of all the pants that don't fit or all the shirts that are so 1990's that would mean my closet might be bare... Hello not like I'm going to wear it. 


So today I went through my closet and guess what its not bare but my younger cousin is gonna have a pretty amazing wardrobe! I love that she is younger and smaller and can wear my stuff, one because it saves her momma money and two what can I say for the most part I have a good style going on. And I have lots of these that are empty...

When to Africa last year I realized how much I have and how little they had. It was easy, which I had planned in advanced on leaving clothing behind but I left everything but the clothes I needed for my trip home. And I even left my tennis shoes which I kind of regretted when I had huge blisters pop up on my feet from walking all over and I mean all over London in two days! I learned a lot about material possessions in Africa the less I have the better off I am and the less I have to clean and I hate cleaning! 

So there may not be a big point to this blog except for me it was realizing I am okay if I never fit into "__" size jeans again I'm not going to keep them in my closet until I do, I'm not gonna do lounges in them to help stretch them out, I'm not going to lay on the bed suck in and squeeze till the button, nope I am going to give them away to someone who can fit in them because well lets face it I'm a woman and our bodies change as we get older...what I know surprised me too it's like I hit 24 and nothing is the same ;) Seriously though I'm over the days of crying because my clothes don't fit, really its kind of exciting just means I get new ones. You are not defined by the size written on a tag in the back of your jeans. I learned this the hard way one through an Eating Disorder that consumed way to much time of my life and two by going to London, their sizes are completely different than ours. At that time I was too scared to buy jeans there because it meant I needed a double digit size. I see now how ridiculous it is. I don't even know why they place sizes in jeans anymore because the same size jeans in the same brand but a different cut are different. Just like none of us are the same no two pairs of jeans are the same! I've decided it is impossible to replicate anything to be EXACTLY the same! 


Okay so I have ranted enough but I want to conclude with this in getting back to memories and closet. Just like I cleaned out my physical closet today how many of us need to clean out our "spiritual" closet. Gods been showing me some things lately that I have had locked up in there for years past  hurts, past regrets, past memories that its just time to let them go. I'll never be able to move on and grow spiritually until I let go. Although I clean out my physical closet...every time I move *which has been way to many times since graduating high school* or at the end of a season. I wonder how much closer our relationship would be with God if we visited the dusty junk we've locked up in our hearts, in our spiritual closet?  


I will leave you with this scripture 
Psalms 51:10 (KJV) Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.