Letting Go to Let In

For Christmas my children got a ridiculous amount of new and fun toys. 

This means that their already overflowing play room needed to be purged.

A little background on our play room, what we call The Den. 

We bought our house and it had an extra office type space built into the garage. It started out as an office, and our play room was what would be the formal living room, but with four kids that just isn't a thing in our house. That room became the school room, the toys moved to the den, and the office is also our guest room.

Because the den was built into the garage, you have to step down into it. 

Before Christmas, our threenager, affectionately named "The Tornado", had managed to dump every toy from every bin and drawer in the room. This resulted in the den no longer being a step down, but pretty much even with the true floor...yeah...

I was not happy. 

My husband was not happy. 

We decided for our own sanity to tackle it after we got back from our Christmas travels. 

Fast forward to Christmas exploding into our house in the form of 

toys, candy, and packed suitcases that needed to be emptied. 

And then the ultimatum: 

The kids cannot open new toys till they

 choose a bunch to give away and the den is clean...

CUE MELT DOWN!!!

Now my oldest jumped right in and started picking out toys he wanted to get rid of...

problem being they weren't actually HIS toys...

they were his sister's toys. I had to give it to him for creativity.

My middle boy decided that he did not want to get rid of ANYTHING! 

If his big brother picked a toy to give away, he wanted it. 

We let him keep a couple hand-me-downs but for the most part 

managed to get rid of the old toys. 

Tornado was not involved in this process for obvious reasons...

mainly being my sanity.

I am always amazed at how much God teaches me through my children, and this process of letting toys go that they no longer needed or played with was no exception.

As I stood with my very strong willed middle boy, let's call him Stone Wall, and he told me he did not want to get rid of any of his toys, my heart broke. I knew he had all of these amazing new, big boy toys that he would love to play with! I knew he would not have space to play with these toys if he continued to hold onto the old ones that he doesn't need anymore. 

I knew this...but in his 4 just turned 5 mind, this did not compute. 

My little Stone Wall was not moving. He was not giving in or letting go.

And then bam, God hit me with it. 

How many times do I hold onto things that God wants me to let go? 

Habits, hurts, regrets...things that I don't want to let go of, 

because they are comfortable, familiar, and MINE!

What God sees is the stubbornness in my heart, and He says, "I know you cannot see it yet, but I have all of these wonderful things waiting for you, if you just let go."

It is so easy to say, yet so hard to do. Often, I end up going through things that I never should have because I continue to hold onto past hurt and regret. 

Dear reader of this blog...whoever you are...listen to Jesus as he tells you that he has something so much better for you. You just have to let it go. It will not be easy and most of the time, in my experience, it is a painful process. But if we let go, and let Him have control, we get to see the amazing things he has waiting to give to us. 

Not to hold to forever, but to pass on to others. 

To continue to let go and let in.

My Stone Wall did eventually part with his some of his toys, and this amazing thing happened. As one set of toys left, it was easier for him to let go of the next thing that we asked him to let go of. He began to find joy in the cleaning and purging of old things. 

He loves playing with his new Christmas and birthday toys.

That my friends is what happens to us with God. We let one thing go, and suddenly, we are able to let more and more go, so that new joy can fill those holes left. 

It is not easy to start, but it gets easier as we get in the practice.

Find joy in the letting go and let God put more and greater things in place for you!

A less cluttered, well played in, Den.

Some passages that pertain to letting go in the Bible:

Ephesians 4: 31-32 ~ Philippians 3: 3-14 ~ Isaiah 43: 18-19