Monday

A House?

'Unknown House in Keene New Hampshire' photo (c) 2011, Keene Public Library and the Historical Society of Cheshire County - license: http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/You are a house.

Nope. Not as BIG AS a house.

You are a house.

Your being, your soul, the part that makes you you -- that is your house.

If you know me the least little bit, you know that I am prone to pick apart a thought and over think and WAY over talk it, and lately I’ve been pondering us as a house. So now I shall over talk/ write it.

I think of our selves -- our real, true selves -- as our houses.

The thing is, most of our relationships in life are front porch relationships. And not in the “sit on the front porch and rock” good kind of way. In the “I don’t really want you in my house, so let’s stand on the porch and talk about the weather, my landscaping, good movies, other people, and how awesome my kids are” kind of way.

Every once in a great little while we will have a true and honest friend -- and, hopefully our spouses-- that we invite into our houses. We don't mind if they help us "fix up" a little, even. What one might call "holding us accountable" to some public goal we have.

But there is generally the junk closet. C’mon you have one. You know you do.

In your house and in your soul there is a junk closet -- full of pain and mess and crup that you want to keep the door locked and sealed forever on... like Monica’s closet on Friends.

It’s the rare friend that we invite into our houses. Rarer still, the friend that we ask to help us clean out our junk closet.

It's a dangerous prospect, the cleaning of the junk closet. For one, you have to dig back out the pain you purposefully crammed in there. And if you have someone cleaning with you, there is always the possibility of being hurt further. Because, let's be honest, every relationship is the potential for hurt. However... I've found that the majority are worth the risk. Especially junk closet friends.

Praying that you have friends in your life that you would invite into your junk closet -- your literal and figurative junk closet.

5 comments:

The Brackeens said...

I don't have a literal one!!!! Just a junk drawer. ;)

Mrileyjr said...

Excellent piece. Makes me thankful all over again that I do, indeed, have family and friends who've been into my junk closet and still love me.

Anne J said...

Nobody besides hubby is allowed in the junk closet...but praying that God will continue to heal me of my hoarding, and in turn, send a special friend or two whom I can welcome into the house, and perhaps even show them the junk closet. He's begun the work in me, but He isn't finished yet.

Stephanie said...

We are pretty good at cleaning out the junk closets on a regular basis - his and mine. Literally and figuratively. (Of course, we can't erally sell the figurative stuff in a garage saale very easily though!)

Good analogy, Sarah. I love analogies!

Jamie Kocur said...

I do have a couple dear friends that have been in my junk closet a few times. And I'm very grateful for that.