Hoarder
Sophie - September 3, 2009
This past weekend I ran across a TV show about people who hoard things. I'm not talking about people who save all their kids' schoolwork and have a couple of overcrowded closets as a result. I'm talking about people who cannot walk through their homes without navigating a never-ending pile of junk. People who put their mental and physical health in jeopardy by holding on to a bunch of worthless garbage that they couldn't possibly need.
One of the women featured on the episode I watched was a compulsive grocery shopper. And because she'd lived through several seasons of near-poverty, she couldn't bear to throw away food. The condition of her kitchen was almost unimaginable; every possible surface was covered with boxes and cans and pots and pans and open containers of food. She functioned pretty well in the midst of all the clutter; in fact, she was perfectly at home in her mess. She rifled through a refrigerator that was crammed with rotten produce and spoiled meat, and not one time did she show even a glimmer of recognition that this is not okay. This is bad for me. This is no way to live. To her, it was all perfectly normal.
There was a crew on hand to help her clean up and clean out her house, and at one point they asked her what she wanted to do about a pumpkin that had been sitting on her living room floor for months. The pumpkin resembled a decomposed orange mass more than anything else, and the woman gave her permission for the workers to dispose of it. But as one of the men scooped up that moldy orange blob so that he could put it in a trash bag, the woman walked over to him and said, "Hold on just a second. Just a second. I think...I might want...just a few of these seeds."
At that point she stuck her hand into the middle of something that was way worse than garbage, and it was like she could not help herself from wanting to save part of it. As I watched her I sat straight up and said - just like she could hear me - "Stop it. STOP IT. YOU DON'T NEED THAT STUFF. WHY ARE YOU HOLDING ON TO ALL THAT JUNK?"
And y'all, in the middle of that moment, I heard the Holy Spirit loud and clear: Think about all the stuff you hold on to in your heart. Think about all that junk you carry around just like it's normal. You don't need it.
I've thought about that a whole bunch over the last couple of days. I don't hoard stuff in my house like the woman on the TV show; I throw out papers and magazines and pretty much any clutter that makes its way into my path.
But emotionally? That's a different story. There are a couple of things I hold on to as if my life depended on it. And even though I know that the Lord can take care of the junk, that He can "scoop it up," so to speak, and carry it away for me, I'm like the woman with the pumpkin. I say, "Oh, that's fine - you can take it - but let me just hold on to a teensy little bit. Let me hold on to those seeds."
Anybody else feel the same way sometimes?
Melanie
Melanie
Sophie
Sophie
Paige
Paige
Kris
Kris
Comments (6)
Lots of times. Great post!
Posted on September 3, 2009 7:01 AM
Wow. This is really a great reminder.
Posted on September 3, 2009 7:57 AM
Wow, Sophie. This is really great, and soooo right!
Gah. Can I just throw away the pumpkin already!????
Posted on September 3, 2009 10:16 AM
I wanted to say WOW, too. I’m working on the decluttering of both house and heart during this season. What a timely word, my friend. You are a DEAR!
Posted on September 3, 2009 12:01 PM
good word, Sophie.
I think we, as women, are hoarders in our hearts and minds by our very nature. Memories, experiences, words spoken… both good and bad. We let so much junk clutter our thought processes that so many times it can render us ‘immobile’ to do what God may be prompting us to do.
Posted on September 3, 2009 12:24 PM
I’ve seen that show. The first few times we watched it, it was just amusing. But now it’s depressing. I hope they have a psychiatrist on hand for some of those situations.
As for my own personal hoarding, I tend to hold on to fears and anxiety. The last few days I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to choose joy when fears come.
Posted on September 3, 2009 2:39 PM