My mother has what we affectionately call the Pack Rat Gene. Now i’m not sure if it is inherent nature or more like a disease, but I do know that it is genetic because I have it too. But I have found a cure: commit to a long term mission trip. And one of the treatments is to have a good old fashioned garage sale.
I had my third round of treatment this past weekend. It was a joint garage sale with my mother. We called it an “extended family” garage sale as opposed to the common “multi family” variety.
Now, Robert and I have been sorting and purging all summer long. A common question in our house has become, “Do we really need to keep this?” But this was my mother’s first round of treatment in a while and the first one where she took the time to really go through some of the deep dark corners of her house.
It was a tenuous start at first, and of course the bulk of the effort was done at the last minute. By the time we had finished gathering things together, we had accumulated quite a pile. It was stuff that my mother had been meaning to go through for a while, and there are still some dark corners that we didn’t get to. But the reason she hadn’t gotten around to it before was that she didn’t have anyone to encourage her and to sort through all the stuff with her. It’s the same with any major medical treatment like chemotherapy. Medical experts say you should have someone to sit with you through it for encouragement and company as well as a larger support network.
It reminds me of this journey we call Christianity. Whether you are called to be a part of a congregation here in the States or to join the mission field overseas, we don’t have to do it alone. Jesus created the ultimate support network when he established the church. Let us always remember to call upon our brothers and sisters when we need someone to help us through the treatments of life so we can all be together in the cure of everlasting life with Christ.
