Does anyone else have the problem of owning too many clothes? I might have a shopping problem, and my closet is suffering from it. My husband acts like he is suffering from it too. He always has something to say about the amount of clothes I have, and I usually just laugh it off.
When we moved into our house, the master bedroom had two pretty small closets and based on the fact that I had 4 moving boxes filled with only my clothes, I claimed both of them. Colby really doesn’t hang up many of his clothes, so the closet in the guest bedroom was perfect for him. The master closets had metal rods in each one to hang pieces of clothing on. When we painted that room, we removed all the closet hardware, and decided to put up some newer, nicer looking poles to hang clothes on.
Colby found these wooden poles at Home Depot that looked great, so he cut them to fit the closets and let me hang up my wardrobe. Now, when I finished hang my last piece of clothing, we noticed a very clear bend in the middle of the wooden pole. Colby made a joke about getting rid of some of my clothes to which I laughed in his face. A classic reaction.
We noticed that bend last August, and I have definitely added to my wardrobe since then. The other week, I was getting ready to take Remi outside to play on her splashpad when I heard a loud noise that sounded like it came from our bedroom. It startled me enough to be very afraid to open the door. Did someone just scale the back of my house and break into our bedroom window? Was there a suicidal bird that flew into the side of the house at full speed? Did a bear somehow find its way into the house looking for food?
As all these ridiculous questions flooded my mind, I slowly pushed the door open. And yes, you guessed it, the pole holding all of my clothes had snapped in half causing my thousand pound wardrobe to crash onto the floor creating the terrifying noise. While I was relieved it was not a bear or intruder, I was disappointed to see my closet in shambles. Maybe the most heartbreaking fact was that my husband was going to have field day with this. All those jokes about needing to get rid of some clothes are no longer jokes and I was not looking forward to what he had to say about this closet malfunction.
I should have seen it coming from the moment I finished hanging up all my clothes. I mean this pole had a very defined bend in the middle and it was only a matter of time before it just collapsed under all the weight.
I think people bend like that wooden pole but it is a lot harder to see. When a bend is not so obvious, it makes the snap more of a shock.
I often let things build up one on top of the other until I come to that breaking point. I just snap. I overreact or read into to something or just allow my emotions to run wild while the two halves of me try to pick up all the shards and put myself back together.
This world can really weigh me down at times. There is so much heartbreak and sin and sadness that it can be very overwhelming. Watching the news or reading about currents events is all negative lately. Even the responsibilities of everyday life can feel like burdens. When the house is a mess, every dish we own is dirty, laundry is piled up, and my body feels completely fatigued, it can feel like there is just a heaviness that sits on my chest causing it to sink in. Just like a bend in a pole.
We are not meant to carry such a heavy weight. To bury or build until it all becomes too much. We are not meant to bend to the point of breaking.
God designed us differently than that. He created us to be reliant on Him. He takes the weight off our shoulders, so we don’t have to bend as much. There are so many verses in the Bible that remind us to unload that weight we try to carry.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burdens on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your cares on Him because He cares about you.”
John 16:33 “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
In Psalm 142, David does a great job of representing how we can find refuge in the Lord. Verse 2 reads “I pour out my complaint before him; I reveal my trouble to him.”
David is releasing all of his worries and woes onto the Lord. Just letting God have all that is weighing him down. Then he shifts to remembering that God is help. God is the refuge when there seems to be none.
“I cry to you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the living.'”
The things that weigh us down whether it’s on a worldwide scale or something in your own heart, do not weigh God down. He can handle all of life’s struggles, and knows that we can’t on our own. God is constantly calling us back to Him. Reminding us to let things go. To drop the weights and ease up on that bend in our lives.
Like Jesus said in John 16:33, we will have trouble in this world. We might have to bend a little more than we want, but never to break. God is always with us in the trouble, taking on all that we can not. We must allow Him to take it from us. We must loosen our grip and feel the relief of a lighter yoke. And some of us could also just get rid of some their clothes. That might help with all the bending.