For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end -Hebrews 3:14

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” -Job 2:9

“You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. -Deut. 10:20

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; -1 Thes. 5:21

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; -Hebrews 10:23

All of the above verses talk about holding on…holding fast; and, I believe that we all tend to hold on.  We… I, hold on to many things.  Most things in my life that I tend to hold onto are not good nor necessary.

I didn’t have much growing up as a child, so I tend to hold on to everything…clothes in my closet that are 15 years old-still good, but I haven’t worn them in years.  Then there are the things in the kitchen.  We were at the point of starvation during my early years, so I keep everything…nothing goes to waste.  Yes…we eat left-overs.  We eat them until they are gone, or only good for the cat, the dog, the rabbits, the squirrels, or the birds…then they get to finish them off; but they never go in the trash!

I also tend to hold onto bags and foil.  I reuse grocery bags for my trash, and wash out lunch bags and foil to use again.  I also hold on to and reuse all my plastic butter tubs, ice cream tubs, you name it…anything that comes in a reusable plastic tub-I keep.  My excuse?  Then I won’t have to waste money on buying Tupperware.  Crazy-huh?!

This morning, I was putting dishes away, and remarked to my husband that there were too many cups and glasses in my cupboards.  Most are chipped and mismatched.  He said…”Throw them out!”  Then he went on to say…”I know it pains you to do so, and I’m not sure ‘why’, but just get rid of them.”

Hence this post.  I did a quick inventory of ‘why?’, and discovered that I DO hold on to stuff- way too much!

You all may be judging me right now.  Maybe some of you think me silly or eccentric.  Others may think I’m just plain nuts….  But we ALL tend to hold onto things in our lives for different reasons.  Some of us hold on to hurts-wounds caused years ago by someone in our past.  Others hold onto anger-and that turns into rage and bitterness.  Or, how about unforgiveness?  We all tend to hold onto that-at least for a short period of time; some of us never forgive the wrong done to us in the past.

Let’s all take inventory of our lives today.  What is it that we are holding on to…holding fast?  Are they good things?  Are they things of God?  Or are they things that keep us from moving forward?  Things that block our blessings?  Things that keep us from prospering and from having a good future?  Things that keep us from being joyous?

No matter how much it pains me, I’m going to rid myself of these things in my closet, and my kitchen.  That will be my starting point.  For the other things in my life that are in the deep recesses of my heart…I will go to God in prayer, and let Him do some housecleaning;  ….Lord knows…I need it!  And I daresay…so do you.

Anita