What Kind Of Pack Rat Are You?

Well my feet ache and my head is stopped up from dust. I have been putting in many extra hours at school over the last week, doing some "Spring Cleaning" for special visitors we are having to the school. It is amazing how fast the clutter can pile up in an art room if you don't stay on top of it. There had been a lot of clutter before I started at the school because they had not had an art program for several years and everything for the art room had been tossed in boxes and put in storage. I had the great honor LOL of unpacking it all, going through the stuff and cleaning out the dusty storerooms. This is actually my first step for cleaning, because I intend to spend several days of my Spring break this year doing some "Faithful Spring Cleaning" at home too. I know I need to do cleaning before I can sell my house so I can find a place to live where I don't have so much yard to take care of. I also know God is making me deal with some issues I need to face.

Now I must admit when it comes to Spring Cleaning I have a genetic flaw which is one thing God is really dealing with in my life right now. My genetic flaw is that I am a pack rat. My mother was a terrible pack rat and my dad still is. This is partly one of those sins of your parents things, but I do accept responsibility for my own pack ratting behavior. With me being the creative artist type, it is like I have 2 strikes against me that I am battling! But my daughter has been helping me to face this head on and deal with it. I am pleased that she wants to help us get free from the chains I have created in my life.

The first thing I must say is that for the most part, Americans on the whole are all a bit like pack rats. Most Americans have too much "Stuff". The fact that so many Americans are in such credit card and other debt situations proves that we have a Needs vs Wants problem. Advertising doesn't help much either. They can make every want sound like we are going to die if we don't get it. I hear children now days often saying, "I need this and I need that." when all their requests are wants, one after the other. How many parents give in and are just as guilty too?

Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." How many people have the faithful internal peace that Paul writes about? How many people can say that they can be content like this regardless of their circumstances? I know that when you are use to living comfortably with all your needs met and most of your wants met too, when something drastic happens and you have to live not knowing if your needs are going to be met, it can be very stressful, scary, and even devastating. It changes you and your whole perspective towards "stuff". You could care less if you have an IPOD or not, when you don't know if you are going to be able to pay your mortgage this month, If you loose your home and have to live out of your car, or if you don't know if you're going to have to go to bed hungry tonight. For many people in the world hunger is a real life threatening issue. Yet in America, statistics on obesity show many of us are pack ratting food in our bodies. You know the super size this and the extra helping of that. That is really what overeating is.

Another form of pack ratting comes from procrastination. Stuff piles up and we can give all sorts of excuses about being tired or that you have so much to do, but the fact is that this is a form of rebellion. A lot of times these pack ratting people are called lazy or as the Bible says sluggard. Proverbs 13:4 says, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied." Proverbs 21:25 says, "The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work." Procrastination is a very deceptive thing. The person may not be a lazy person. He or she may be a very busy person. People will make time and have energy for the things that they value. If it is not high on their list or important enough to them, it gets shoved aside for the things that are high on our lists. If we don't want to do it, we put it off until the consequences become more painful or costly than what we have been putting off. Proverbs 6:9 says, "How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?"

What we often don't realize until it is too late, is that procrastination creates chains that bind us up, drag us down, and weaken our faith. We could meet the task head on, face it, do it, and then it is done. Yes, it may be unpleasant or painful, but the longer we wait the more links in the heavy chain are added. Heavier and heavier it hangs around us and drags us down. Inaction is one of Satan's greatest tools, because it can start off very subtly.

This can be applied to so many areas of your life. It might be the clutter in your house, garage, etc. This is one of my guilty areas, because I put things off because of the pain I was going through during my separation and divorce. When you continue to put off dealing with clutter it does not stop and wait on you, it will just keep growing and growing. When you finally look at it, just the thought of dealing with it is overwhelming. In this case the best plan of action is to set small goals you can meet. If you break one link of the chain at a time it will come off. The first link is always the hardest, but by setting small goals that you can realistically meet, you can feel good with what you accomplish. It just takes time, but then you are free.

Church groups could be a real help to these people too. Often they won't ask for help because they are embarrassed and then they can become very withdrawn depressed people. People in the old days had the right idea when they would join together to have a "Barn Raising". Church groups could make lists of things people in the group want to get done but haven't gotten done yet. It may be painting a room, cleaning out a storage area, cutting down a tree, etc. Then schedule to do it together and help each other out. When you get done with that list you can expand and help others too. You not only get your work done (with fun and fellowship), but you are then a service to others too.

Another area that pack ratting hits hard with procrastination is with emotions. You get in an argument and hurt the other person's feelings. You would rather procrastinate and pack rat those emotions then deal with them. In the mean time the other person is hurting because you refuse to apologize and ask for forgiveness. You fester from the issues you won't deal with. This can drag you down for days, months, years, or even a lifetime. When some one hurts us we can pack rat our hurt and pain too, because it is too painful to deal with. The longer we pack rat our emotions and live in the past, the higher the wall is that we build around us, the more links in the heavy chain we add, and the more withdrawn for our true emotions we become.

Sometimes stuff and emotions intertwine to make matters worse. Instead of defining ourselves the way God would have us do through faith, we start to define ourselves by our stuff. Our job, what kind of car we drive, what kind of house we live in, what kind of clothes we wear, what country club we belong to, etc. all become the things we value ourselves with and define ourselves with. The problem is there is never enough. We have to have more and more, we have to keep up with the neighbors, we have to work more to get more stuff, etc. We pack rat more and more stuff because it makes us temporarily feel good about ourselves. We then see the next thing we want and justify why we think we need it. The more we get the more we have to have, the more debit we are willing to put ourselves it to get it, and in the end we still feel an emptiness. When we pack rat material things our faith pays the price.

We begin to slip into the habit of spending our time and efforts in the "Material World" instead of in the "Godly World". We spend time pleasing ourselves instead of pleasing God. We spend time in front of the TV or on the computer instead of reading our Bible, praying, and following God's will for our lives. Beware, if you are right now ignoring God's repeated calling for you to do something. He will get your attention one way or another. If you are too wrapped up with your stuff, and you procrastinate when God calls, because you really don't want to do it, BEWARE." He may take it all away to get your attention and to lovingly redirect you back to Him and His will for your life. If we let so much build up in our lives that we are overwhelmed and stressed out, we can't be good servants for God. When I was trying to deal with severe financial problems during my divorce, I noticed that I kept growing closer to God. As I trusted in Him more and more, He revealed to me things He wanted to deal with in me. He wanted to make me stronger in my faith. As I have been dealing with them, My faith continues to grow.

Now, I am trying to stay in my new purging state of mind, because I know God is working in my life on this matter. When God is working on something in our lives we need to trust Him and turn it over to Him. Keep your communication lines open to Him with prayer. If it is a real issue for you it probably won't all happen over night, but God will help you get through it. You will have to do your part. You will need to do some time management, goal setting, set up a plan of action, and then stick to it. When Satan starts telling you it can't be done you need to stop being a pack rat and turn it over to Him, God will help us face the mountains, tear down the walls, break the chains, or what ever else needs to be done so that we can all be free in faith with His love, to honor and glorify Him.

FaithfulToOne©2007