Spring Cleaning

This weekend is our neighborhood garage sale. We hold 1 twice a year and it's huge. There are so many people that come to it that they just park their cars and walk the streets from sale to sale. It's a great opportunity to get rid of things and make a little money at the same time. I decided to use the garage sale as an incentive to do some spring cleaning.

Today is Thursday. The sale is Saturday. I have 1 bag of stuff gathered so far. The rest of the house has yet to be cleaned out. As I sat down to write this morning, I felt so overwhelmed by the task in front of me. I have no idea how in the world I will find the time to go through each room of my house and pull things out, as well as put price tags on them, before Saturday. Right now, I'm looking at a mountain, figuratively speaking.

As I pondered the thought of this mountain, I realized how often we face big tasks before us with no idea how to start tackling them. Many times, I just give up and forget to do it altogether. If you're a perfectionist like me, you know how hard this can be on your self-esteem. When I give up, I usually feel like a total failure. However, I'm reminded that it is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all.

So often, we look at a mountain and never even take one step towards climbing it. When we do this, we will never know if we would have been able to climb it or not. At least by trying, we can say that we made the effort. In all actuality, any accomplishment is better than none at all.

If I only find time to clean out 4-5 of the 10 rooms in my house, it's better than not cleaning any of them. Sure, I would make more money at my sale if I have more things to sale, but any money is more than I had to start with.

We've all heard the saying "Don't make mountains out of molehills." It's true. If I look at each room as a small molehill, then I'm not really looking at a mountain at all.

It's true for the task or trial that you may be facing, too. Just like my house, full of rooms to be cleaned, your mountain is really a lot of small molehills. If you will tackle them one by one, you will be surprised by how much you can really accomplish.

So I leave you with this thought: Don't allow the tasks or trials in front of you stop you from trying. Start small. If you can only accomplish half of your goals, it's okay. The word to remember is 'accomplish.' You didn't fail to complete things. You accomplished many things. The rest will get done, just maybe not today.

Now it's time for me to start spring cleaning. I'll be sure to let you know how well it goes. I may surprise myself and accomplish more than I expect. The important thing is that I'm starting out with the right attitude.

Have a blessed day!