Fried Okra and Fireflies

Recently I have been thinking about clutter.  I am not a clutter person.  As a matter of fact this past year, I really took on the less is more philosophy.  However that said, I have certain cabinets, drawers, corners of my closet and a few stored boxes that would be clutter to some.  I don’t see it as clutter though but as precious memories.  I was in a class this week and we had to describe ourselves by telling how someone else would describe us if they saw our clutter.  I said I was a sentimental hoarder.  I would categorize myself one step below needing professional help.  I am that mom that kept all the favorite baby clothes.  I have boxes of pictures and school work my kids made.  I have wall calendars from the last 5 years of my grandmother’s life, because she had sweet hand written notes on them like the days I would take her out.  Naturally I have the bigger items too like old jewelry, dishes, etc.  There have been times when my family thinks I can be a bit ridiculous with the things I hold on to.  They are just things I know, but when I see them I relive experiences and certain times in living color.  I step back into moments of my life with bright and vivid pictures.  They briefly transport me back to times, places and smells.  It is so amazing how our brains work.  When I see an empty mason jar the very first thing that comes to mind is catching fireflies in my grandparents’ yard as a kid.  They are amazing little creatures.  I have a lid to an old pan in my kitchen, which now serves as decoration.  I can merely look at it and can smell the homemade fried okra my grandmother used to cook.

Precious memories are a wonderful thing.  It overwhelms my heart sometimes when my granddaughter shows up wearing something that was her mother’s when she was little.  Not only is she adorable, but it takes me back to the place her mommy wore it, or what occasion it was bought for.  Besides that, before you totally judge me as an extreme sap, it is frugal!  That makes me feel better anyway.  Going back and capturing a moment in time is not bad, you just have to remember not to live there.  I no longer live in a time that I can run around the yard and catch fireflies, for one thing I now live in Southern California and I have yet to see a firefly here.  I have to remember that as wonderful as each and every moment was for the tangible things that I have held onto I cannot take them with me.  I cannot live in the past, I have to look ahead to the future.  I know for some of us our past is not always full of wonderful memories or moments that were not always healthy, although we still choose to live there at times.  We often want to drag them with us like old luggage into new places.  I have traveled quite a bit through the years, sometimes I see people dragging suitcases that are duct taped and ragged.  I think man, they really need to let that go!  That is precisely what we need to do in some areas of our lives.  Let it go.

We cannot change the past.  We can’t redo a great memory or a horrible memory.  It is merely a memory, what is done is done.  Today is a new day.  We need to get out and make new memories.  God wants us to have life and life abundantly.  If we live in a heap of old memories or dragging around old baggage we are being robbed of great things He wants us to have today.  One of my very favorite verses is in Jeremiah.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  I urge you to reflect on what memories you are constantly living in that you need to move on from?  Do you have some memories that you need to let go of all together that keep you trapped in an unhealthy place?  Today is a brand new day full of new possibilities!  Open your eyes and heart to the new things God wants you to see and be a part of.  I look forward to the new memories that lie ahead and will still hang onto a mason jar or two, just in case I get the opportunity to catch fireflies!

Until next time…