Clearing Cobwebs

You know how sometimes you are going about your business all fine and dandy and then you switch on a table lamp and suddenly, the biggest cobweb ever catches your attention out of the corner of your eye? You look up and realize there’s not one but several.. The kind of cobwebs that make it look as though you never clean your house ever. Your house might as well belong to The Munsters.*

I mean, yeah you’ve been doing SOMETHING around the house because the kids have been eating and they have clothes and you’ve kept everyone alive. But obviously, you’ve been too busy to get to–or even notice–the cobwebs. And don’t look over at the baseboards…you know what you will find…

I think about this, and I think about the other cobwebs in my life. Sometimes we are running on auto pilot, going through our day, day after day, getting the basics done and not stopping to address, or even see, the cobwebs. We are busy making sure people get fed and have clothes and making sure that nobody dies and realize that it’s been a while since we’ve taken the time to trim our toenails or trim our hair or spend alone time with the hubby or do something fun with the kids. (There’s more to life than just not dying.) And there are the spiritual cobwebs too. Maybe you read or listen to your daily reading every day but sometimes that’s not enough to prevent the cobwebs.

As 2015 drew to a close, I found some time to look around at the cobwebs  — both literally and figuratively. Since Christmas I have been purging and decluttering and restoring order around the house, in my schedule, and in my mind and thoughts. I delayed school one more week so that we can continue to work on things, including putting all of our sleep schedules back on track, tackling the paper clutter and disarray in the office, and diving into the abyss of dirty laundry (while simultaneously paring down the kids wardrobes.

Carrying this over into the new year, I have taken on two challenges with some groups of friends on Facebook: purging 40 bags of clutter and trash and stuff in 40 days , and doing another Whole30 diet for the month of January. I need a “cleanse,” so to speak, in both of these areas. At the same time, our church body has taken on the challenge to read the whole Bible in a year this year, (something I was already working on personally, and which I am about 78% of the way through.) So I will be continuing mine and keeping up with the church as much as I can.

And through all of this, I never sat down to choose a word for 2016. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the word that’s all that special. Usually at the end of the year, I spend time pondering where God has me and what he me working on in my life, what he’s calling me to change or improve or do, and out of that I find a word that refers to my focus going into the new year. It’s the process, not the word, that I enjoy. And while I’ve done some reflecting, I haven’t chosen any words. (Though, I confess, I briefly considered “No.” Because I need to learn when to say no and how to delegate and how to not take on too much. I’m kidding though, I wouldn’t really use “No.” 😉 I’m not sure I’ll choose a word at all. I’ll let you know.)

The thing about cobwebs is that they get bigger and nastier the longer they go untouched. The same is true of the other cobwebs in our lives. At some point, you have to roll up your sleeves and acknowledge and clear the cobwebs away. What cobwebs are you tuning out. Look up and see– are they there?

Image Credit, Public Domain