The Old Trunk

As I pulled the old trunk from its resting place of the last five years a long chain of old cob webs came with it. This chain was about four feet in length. The dust on the trunk as well as the cob webs spoke volumes of its “snuggled position” in my garage protecting its contents.

It had taken 15 minutes to dislodge the trunk. Five years of supporting other things on top of it made the trunk in accessible. It had to be done.

The treasures were small but highly valuable to some folks. It contained old pottery that my mother had made over the years. With her major move from her old house to her apartment she had no room for these things so we had stored them in the trunk and moved it east.

Along with the treasures were things that were not needed. These things are now in a garbage bag.

As I sat looking through the piles of trunk stuff I was amazed at what we had kept. Treasures mixed with junk that only took up valuable space. Now that is a good illustration for sure!

As I pondered this I thought of what was inside the trunk and also inside my mind. There were treasures for sure – small and important. And there were spaces filled with the junk – the spaces themselves much more important than the junk that filled it.

I find my mind is that way. It stores everything and then piles it up to be used some day. Cob webs collect after years of non-use. And dust is everywhere covering things up so I can’t even remember what is inside or why I kept it.

That stuff is called trivia to make it more glamorous I guess…

Have you checked some of the stuff in your “mind trunk”? For the fun of it run over this list to see if there are any old things that have stuck…

• “You’ll wonder where the yellow went..”



• “Go ahead… make my day..”



• Shirley Temple is not just a drink but a cute little child star that had ringlets in her hair.



• Mt. Rushmore has five presidents on it.



• The Eiffel Tower is in Paris and it is big.



• The Great Wall of China is very long.



• A mouse loves peanut butter more than cheese.



• A girl that is surrounded with a huge furry hand a screams incessantly… what colour was her hair… and who held her?



• Underwood is an old typewriter company.



• Spurs are something you wear when you want a horse to go faster.



• Cold water doesn’t make good tea.



• A spare tire is always in the back of a car – except for cars with rear mounted engines.



• Spare tires are known to be around a man’s waist.
  A Lamborghini automobile doesn’t have a spare tire – because when you pay $350,000 for the car – you can usually afford to have some one bring the tire to you and fix it.



• In 2007 Flour is All Purpose in 1930 it wasn’t.



• A Snail is slow – a rabbit is fast.

Your list may be much longer than mine… On the other hand – some of the above things were not in your mind trunk – but after having read it – you will store it now – forever…

My concern is how I can take care of the old thoughts that clutter my mind at times. Some are very negative and many are destructive. Another factor is the time that these thoughts consume. Ouch!

Old ugly thoughts take away the laughter and cover up the giggles that should be there. I know I need to clear the old terrible thoughts out and let new ones take their place. I need to dwell on the happy old thoughts and grin widely when they pop up. How about you?

I found an interesting reading in the New Testament… from a Bible Translation entitled “The Message” –

Romans 8:14-16 (The Message)
v.12-14 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

v. 15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

WOW! What a different way to think about things. “There are things to do and places to go!”

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~