This week, our Pastor talked about how he spent his vacation renting a dumpster and cleaning out 20 years of collected “garbage” out of his barn. Of course he and his wife knew they needed to set aside time to do this because they were anticipating a lot of sorting and sifting through everything they had accumulated. Not everything in the barn was rubbish. In fact, even some of the items they had to dispose of held memories that were extremely difficult to let go of…even though the usefulness of the actual object had long since gone.

What made me really pay attention to this story is the fact that I had watched an episode of “Obsession” earlier in the week. “Obsession” is a program that deals with people’s Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorders, or OCD’s. This particular program dealt with a man who “hoarded.” His entire home, garage, and back yard were stuffed and stacked with everything from furniture to junk-mail. He couldn’t throw anything away…but even worse, he continued to bring things home.

At first, as a viewer, I was horrified! How could anyone live like this? Didn’t someone care enough about this guy to help him, I wondered? But then as the story unfolds we begin to understand how this came to happen.

This guy associated every piece of paper…every old magazine subscription…every old bottle of medicine, as a piece of his memory. Throw it away, and devalue the memory. For him, it was as if he would be throwing the person, or place or event itself in the garbage can. He couldn’t let a single thing go, because everything held the same significance. Everything was that important. He could not discern the emotional difference between what was sacred…and what was junk.

Throughout the program, we see the slow, but continual progress he makes with the help of some very intensive therapy. What the therapist needed to accomplish with this man was the release of the importance of what each item represented in his heart, before he could surrender the item itself into the trash. This was made evident in the beginning when the therapist “made” him throw something away…only to have him retrieve it again from the dumpster once she had left for the day.

This wasn’t a case of hiring someone to help him clean up his clutter, because the real chaos was within him. Even if someone had cleaned his house every day for the rest of his life, he would have continued to “hoard” his experiences through the accumulation of “things,” big or small…costly or cheap, always needing something tangible to remind him of his life.

To tell you the truth…the whole thing really disturbed me. But I also need to say that I am grateful that I can still be haunted by such images.

For too many of us, these reality shows and constant tabloid news footages begin to de-sensitize us. Dysfunction becomes normal. We become too comfortable to what should trouble us concerning the souls that surround us daily. We might not know the exact person being portrayed, but it is likely we know someone caught in similar circumstances. We might even be caught a little ourselves.

The more I thought about this “hoarding” thing, the more I realized how common it is. Maybe not in its extreme form, but even in the testimony of our pastor who had allowed 20years to accumulate in his barn before he finally addressed it… all of us, to some degree, gather and protect things we do not need—that represent memories we are not ready to let go of—that begin to imprison us over time.

The man in the “obsession” episode had basically entombed himself within his own walls. He left no room to walk, rest, eat or live in any normal way within his own home. He was paralyzed emotionally, mentally and physically. He was only ready to begin therapy because he wanted to share his life with someone else…and there was literally no room for her!

The scary thing is that you don’t have to be “old” to be affected by this behavior. These programs, “Obsession”, “Intervention” and others like them have featured very young, very dysfunctional individuals who are trapped within these behaviors. The truth is, if these belief systems and associations are not rightly dealt with, a person in their mid-twenties can be completely incapacitated within the walls their own choices build.

It doesn’t matter what we name it… “Obsessive Compulsive Disorders” “addictions” or any other destructive lifestyle preferences, these habits will eventually lead to separation from others as well as shame, loneliness, guilt and despair…If they are not altered at their source.

The grim reality is that most of the participants in these documentaries do not find complete deliverance, restoration or freedom. Although some do get a little better with help, most return to their old ways with a vengeance.

What makes these shows popular is not just the extreme behavior, but the story underneath. Of course no sane and rationally thinking human being would self-destruct and separate themselves from living a happy productive life on purpose…so how do they get “there?”

As I prayed about this the Lord revealed one word, “Relationships.”

How we receive the way we process “value” usually comes first from our relationship with our parents. What they deemed important will shape the way we value people and things in our lives. If they had healthy and clear boundaries as to what was “trash” and what was “treasure” in their lives, we are more likely to learn balance from their example.

If the way we respond in our own relationship with people and things is not healthy, we must re-learn at that same point of reception; recognizing our trust and hope in that reality was wrong. However, from here, we must receive the true-truth in order to reform new perceptions. That is the heart of what repentance really is!

This is not merely a difficult task…. It is impossible without the grace of God. That is why all the worlds’ wisdom and techniques do not seem to “work” for most of these individuals. These are soul issues being expressed. Without genuine love and restoration, there can be no true change.

These shows are in some ways, testimonials for absolute truth. Reading between the layers we can see why our world is such a hurting place. We can witness in these snapshots of desperation, that religion without relationship with Christ is just as useless as therapy without genuine theology. (Or the knowledge of God) Only the true Creator and Author knows how to mend the wounded soul or fix the brokenhearted. We can have facts and formulas, programs and procedures, but without the divine healing revelation from God Himself, there will be no lasting deliverance. No real transformation.

If we learn from these examples of human suffering we can be better prepared to offer a “living hope” to those who are hurting. Not just a quick clean-up so they are more presentable to our sterile and churchy expectations.

However, before we are helpful to others, first we need to take a good look at ourselves…

Are we hindered or tripping over the clutter of unimportant things?

Are we living in the present moment…or are we stuck in wounds of our past?

Are we free…or living in the prison of our own making?

It is not just a matter of cleaning out the closets…but also sweeping out the soul.

It is good to set aside time to do some deep cleaning…both of the home and of the heart.

Is Today garbage day?

Maybe it’s time to rent a dumpster…