Taking inventory of our inner lives

Whenever I visit the homes of my grandchildren, I encourage each mom to line up projects for when my extra pair of hands might help facilitate. Last week while I was in Florida, Linnea was ready with her list. As she worked her way through it, I got to play with my grands.

One job that’s impossible to do with children around is to organize their toys, which means tossing out broken ones and those with missing parts. Since new toys come in with each birthday and Christmas, Linnea also looks forward to gathering bunches of still-nice toys for Good Will.

As she was getting ready to tackle the project this time, we reached under each bed, behind closet doors, and in every dark corner where we found stray cars, plastic princesses, and building blocks. When she finally went to work, the living room floor was piled high with colorful playthings, along with a variety of plastic bins with lids.

By the end of the day, the toy stash had been forced into submission and most of it put away for only occasional use. And the children would never miss all that had been removed.

Every so often it’s a good idea to do the same thing with our spiritual lives. Taking inventory of where we stand with the Lord motivates us to trim away anything that gets between us and him. We can also rearrange our priorities so the main thing becomes the main thing again.

Once in a while we have to look in those hidden places of our thinking for the clutter we’ve allowed to accumulate there, just as we had to hunt in all the hidden places for toys. Without making a close inspection now and then, our lives can become disheveled.

But we often shy away from this introspective process because it can be painful. Just like children resist parting with broken toys, we have trouble letting go of certain things too, like bad habits we’ve become comfortable with. Rather than route them out, it’s easier to make excuses for them much like children try to justify keeping bits and pieces of incomplete toys.

But once we’ve done the hard work of taking stock and putting our internal houses back in order, gains will always outweigh losses. That’s because the process has made room for the Lord to give us “new” and “better.”

As for my grandchildren, playing with a manageable amount of toys (all of which work right and are complete) makes play time less frustrating and lots more fun.