De-cluttering to Hear the Still Small Voice

Lately, I have been busy.  In fact, I have been so busy, I have gotten slack in lots of different areas and things have begun to pile up.  I have found myself dealing in clutter.  My dresser at home has been cluttered with my stuff.  My sock drawer has been cluttered.  My desk at work has been cluttered.  My calendar has been cluttered.  Even my Bible was cluttered.  Yep, you know all those notes you take during the sermon and the pictures drawn by your precious children to keep them occupied during the message?  I mean it seemed that everywhere I turned I was dealing with clutter.  So I said to myself, "Self, what is up with all this clutter!"  I am amazed that I even heard myself since everything was so cluttered, but I did!  A real quick evaluation made me realize that I needed to stop and reassess a few things in my life.  I started asking questions immediately, "How did I get to this point? Had I lost anything in all this clutter? Would I be able to find it if I did?"  I evaluated and re-evaluated some things and in just a few moments found that I had once again allowed "stuff" to get in the way of lots of things.  Funny how that happens.  I think that I would learn after all these years, but somehow, I don't.  I find myself laying something to the side thinking that I would deal with it more efficiently later.  That is all well and good until I lay something else on top of it and then I add more and more and more.  Before long, clutter happens.  

Can I get a witness?  Is it just me or have you been there?  I have learned that clutter in one's life just doesn't happen overnight.  It is a process that grows like a bad disease.  It can spread like a cancer over a period of time and before you know, life is "clutterly"consumed.  So what exactly happens when you get caught up in a mess of clutter?  Clutter is defined as "to fill or litter with things in a disorderly manner."  It is interesting that this definition uses the words "fill or litter."  When one gets caught up in a mess of clutter, space is taken up, seemingly important things become trashy, things are misplaced, perhaps opportunities are swallowed up, and time is wasted.  What have I lost or how much time have I wasted because of clutter?  How much more productive could I be if I de-clutter my life?  Spiritually, we can get cluttered as well.  We can get caught up in service, doing ministry and lose sight of the Savior.  We can be so concerned with rituals we forget the need to strive for righteousness.  We can get so busy with dogma we forget about discipleship.  Can you see the picture being painted before our eyes?  It is easy to be tempted by the clutter in our lives.  Scripture reminds us that we are not alone in this mess (1 Cor. 10:13).  However, that does not excuse us from working on it!  Elijah faced lots of clutter in his life.  One example can be seen in 1 Kings 19:10-18.  Here, Elijah even faced clutter that was beyond his control.  However, one characteristic that he displayed was to work through the clutter until he heard the still small voice of a Mighty God.  There is something to be learned here.  First, in the clutter, you cannot hear God speaking.  Therefore, do all you can to make sure that you get beyond the clutter.  Secondly, sometimes the clutter comes from things we cannot control.  However, God will still speak if you wait for Him to do so.  Being focused, setting goals, and a bit of discipline can help in other areas of your life to help de-clutter.  The really cool thing is I am finding that if I am de-cluttering spiritually, the rest will fall in suit!  So take a lesson from the clutter in my life, examine, evaluate, and enter into a plan of action:  DE-CLUTTER!  In fact, I am cutting this short now to go tackle the sock drawer!