A bathtub full of toys.

Each year for Christmas my kids get a million toys. With 5 kids and each one getting a large handful of it things is easy to get overwhelmed with the gifts. We allow them to open a few and then keep the rest under the tree. Every couple of days they get to open another gift. This trick has allowed them to play with each thing and nothing gets lost. We even do the same thing with birthday gifts. 

(This is a picture of a space full of toys)

With this over load of things it can become a problem with keeping the rooms clean and Ava is slowly learning how to accomplish that task. A few months ago I went in there and was so frustrated at the amount of things on her floor. I have helped her and I have warned her multiple times to clean it up. I grabbed a handful of trash bags and started throwing her things into the bags. 

At least 5 trash bags were filled and because I had no where to place them they went into my tub. They stayed there for a few months....until now. This past week I have posted about cleaning the kids rooms and changing some things up. Cleaning out the extra toys from the tub have been part of the de-cluttering. 

Today as I ran some bath water for the first time in forever I was thinking about what an awesome tub this is. I was thinking about how many people want a huge tub in their house and yet mine was used as a storage space for so long. I was thinking about what a gift this tub was and how it has been wasted. 

For many people who know me well they will agree that I am the queen of anologies. I learn so many things through seeing a parallel or getting an anology to it. 

So, true to my self and the way my mind works I got to thinking about our spiritual walk and how this bath tub story is an anology to our walk with God. 

When we have a relationship with God we are giving gifts. Sometimes we are aware of them and we use these gifts. Other times we get mad at life or sad at the answer, or don't agree with the outcome and we bag up that situation and we set it aside. 

Here is the problem with that....when we "bag" up our crap and dont deal with our emotions over certain things, that crap starts to fill in the gifts that are meant for use. We get so overwhelmed with the "things" in our life. We push it to the side or even emotionally bag it up because we don't know what to do with the things. 

I have learned that things moved to the side or even moved to the bathtub doesn't get ride of it- the same is true with hurt, rejection, or angry.  

We can move it all we want but until we actually sit down and go through the bags and sort out what is in there we can never fully move into the freedom and gifts that come from emptying those spaces. 

Everyone has gifts and can walk in freedom. If you aren't seeing those gifts of freedom, of peace and joy, then you may want to examine what is stored in your emotional space and pray about de-cluttering. 

I am thankful for the de-cluttering ....physically and emotionally.