Cleaning up and cleaning out...

Viewer beware!  Contents of this photo might be scary!!Summer fun also brings summer clean up and clean out.  This year is particularly overwhelming as I put away six years of seminary in some type of an organized fashion.What to keep?What to purge?And the major issue is...where do I put it?Let me just say that this is one corner of the room.  Multiply by 4 plus what is hanging around outside the office...yikes!Instead of waiting for some lightning-bolt plan, I have to start today.  Otherwise, I will either go crazy or miss some extremely important event in my life.As I contemplate the OT text for the week, Genesis 22: 1-14 (Abraham and Isaac), I am really struck by the faith of Abraham to move forward knowing that God will provide.  Abraham was really good at this: being faithful, not without questions or doubts, but nonetheless moving forward before there was a certain answer.  I find comfort in that in some way, knowing that I can draw on this biblical story as I move through my office this week.  For I know what I have ahead of me:putting away some really joyful and amazing times from my internship in a place I can draw from when I need them,setting aside issues that are burning in my heart  to wait and see what new place God has planned for me,purging old dreams and projects to make way for new ones.For is it not the cleaning up that is difficult, it is the cleaning out, letting go, making room to be able to accept new things as I move forward.