Cluttered Places

Knox tore open another box and eagerly started unpacking more of his clothes, putting some away in his closet and others in drawers. His family had moved into a new home, and he finally had a room all to himself!Mom came in to see how he was doing. "What a mess!" she said, looking out the window. Knox looked too. There at the end of the driveway was a huge pile of boxes the family had used to move their belongings. "I'm glad the recycling truck comes today," Mom said. "All those boxes clutter the place up and ruin the look of our new home.""Yeah," said Knox. He looked at his own pile of boxes near the door. "I've got to get these out there too before the truck gets here." Knox hurried to empty the rest of the cartons holding his things, then added the empty boxes to the pile waiting at the end of the drive. When he returned to his room, he grinned. With the boxes gone, his room looked much bigger and more inviting.As they finished eating lunch a little later, the recycling truck came. They all watched as the boxes were loaded onto the truck and cheered as it drove away. Then Dad reached for his Bible. "Our lives sometimes get cluttered and need to be cleaned out too," he said. "Let's read Psalm 32 for devotions today. Would you read it for us, Knox?" When Knox finished reading, Dad nodded. "When we confess our wrongs, Jesus forgives us and renews our fellowship with Him, and that feels even better than getting those boxes out of our way. If there's any sin that has piled up in our hearts, we need to confess it to Jesus and allow Him to cleanse us. Let's each take a moment to think about what's been going on in our lives and confess any sin that's keeping us from fully enjoying our relationship with God."Knox bowed his head. There were a few things he'd done lately that were bothering him. Lord, I'm sorry for fighting with my brothers and calling them names, he prayed silently. Please forgive me, and help me tell them I'm sorry too. He took a deep breath and smiled. He felt better already.-Katherine R. Adams