I was watching a bit of property TV this week with Phil Spencer, showing people how to sell their homes. One lady had loads of stuff, and three daughters, and obviously alot of attachment to their family home. The book shelves were stacked high with books, and as she tried to get rid of them, she found herself reading each one, and remembering how she’d come to own it. Her day job was helping people de-clutter, but obviously had her own personal belongings she’d grown attached to.
I don’t have alot of clutter at home, but at work we are supposed to moving to a hot desking scenario, and I am quite nervous about the whole prospect of not having a drawer with loads of random things in it near me at all times. I have also this week had issues with my email account at work, it seems that I only have to send one or two emails and my account is full. I need to delete, archive and file a whole pile of correspondence before I email anyone anything at all! I always worry that I won’t be able to find information later when I need it, or I will delete something important, or just find it difficult to process the particular email I’ve been sent and don’t want to deal with it straight away. Often I find a whole load of messages about the same topic, that I’ve not looked at, but probably feel I should one day when I’ve got more time.
Shortly afterwards I heard this song on my ipod which is one I used to sing when I was in a gospel choir. I had never before understood the lyric “My storage is empty”! However it struck me, that if we want to be open to God’s plans in our lives, having empty storage, space in our diaries, time in the day for reflection and all sorts of other challenging ways of living, seem more and more important! We need to have space for God’s influence to shape what we are doing, and we need to embrace change and disruptions to our hectic schedules.
With small children and routines, spontaneity can feel fairly limited, but one of the things I’ve learnt recently is a good parenting technique is sometimes to do the opposite of what you normally do, just to catch them out! Instead of coaxing and nagging, just walking away or tickling our son can help him get over whatever strop he’s in. Doing things differently can help any of us whatever age we are, to snap out of a particular mood or feeling or even lifestyle choices. As Albert Einstein put it… Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJznj1a8I1w&feature=related
Song lyrics:
You gave me my hands to reach out to men;
to show him your love and your perfect plan.
You gave me my ears. I can hear your voice so clear.
I can hear the cries of sinners, but can I wipe away their tears?
You gave me my voice to sing your Word;
to sing all your praises to those who’ve never heard.
But, with my eyes I see Your need, for more availability.
I see hearts that have been broken, so many people to be free.
Lord, I’m available to you. My will I give to You,
I’ll do what You say do. Use me Lord,
to show someone the way, and enable me to say,
my storage is empty and I am available to you.
Now, I’m giving back to you all the tools you gave to me –
my hands, my ears, my voice, my eyes; so You can use them as You please.
I have emptied out my cup, so that You can fill me up.
Now, I’m free and I just want to be more available to you.
Use me Lord,
to show someone the way, and enable me to say,
my storage is empty and I am available to you.
inspiredinyork 