Learning From My Garage

There’s a freezer in my garage where I like to store good things. Meats, veggies, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, ice cream… Good Things! Some are necessities, some are clearly not. They’re treats and back-up supplies for days when I need to make my dinner life easier. I love that freezer, and I love filling it up and emptying it out.

But sometimes things get piled up in front of the freezer because, after all, it is in my garage. I can’t get near it, let alone open the door. This frustrates me. The pile-up is usually a neat little arrangement, thoughtfully stacked in this particular space so that we can still park both cars in there. And I’m sure that the stuff stacker thought, “I’ll just put these things here, and I’ll move them when I’m ready… before anyone even notices.” But I, the keeper of the freezer, always notice. I am in contact with that freezer almost daily, putting things in or taking things out. Sometimes, however, there is SO much stuff stacked that I turn away and put my things in the kitchen freezer instead.

This was the case on Tuesday when I returned from the grocery. I parked and gathered an armful of gifts for my lovely freezer. That’s when I saw the stuff stack, impossible to move with only my one free pinky finger, and took the culinary treasures to the other freezer.

That’s when I realized the correlation between my garage and my life. God wants to fill me up, and He wants me to be available to Him so the gifts that He has given me can be used. But sometimes I block the way with a pile of superfluous stuff. Sometimes my stuff is attitude, sometimes it’s a busy schedule, and sometimes the stuff is just stuff. Sometimes, my stack is made of good things that were simply put in the wrong place… out of priority. The problem is that I am putting things in the way of my relationship with God. And like my darling stuff stacker, I do this without intending harm. I think, “I’ll just set these things down right here. It’s not a big deal.” But I’m sure that God is frustrated with me at times, when He comes to me with armloads of blessing and finds that I have a stack of stuff blocking the way.

How many things have I missed out on because of poor judgment regarding my stuff stack? Sigh. I need to do a better job on this. Thankfully, God is full of love and grace. He doesn’t give up on me, even though I forget His lessons and have to be reminded. He even speaks to me through garage freezer stuff stacks. Now THAT’s love.

I want to rearrange my garage, to protect my freezer from being blocked by a stack of stuff. I want to rearrange my life, too. It’s going to be a dirty job. There are things that I have been holding tightly that I know I have to let go. But I’m ready. I’m ready and I’m glad to do it.