Scripture
I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:13-14

Observation
The older we get the more storage space we need because we gather more and throw less away. Like layers of fossil record, tie-die shirts from the 70′s, Cabbage Patch dolls from the 80′s, to monochrome monitors from the 90′s pile up the story of our life. We don’t throw enough away and life slows down under the load.

Today I see that I’ve read Philipiians 3:13 wrongly for the past 48 years. I used to think that Paul was trying to forget bad things so he could move onto better things. But that’s not so. It’s clear from the context that he could remember many good things, proud deeds of days gone by that would swell his chest with pride. Forgetting the past for Paul meant dumping the attic and garage and starting life each day with a swept-clean perspective. He would not live in old glory days. He would not put hope in past treasures. Instead, he would look forward to what was next.

Application
It isn’t just regrets of the past that slow me down. It’s also all of the wonderful accomplishments that fill a resume. Landfill is all that stuff is. Leslie and I are on the verge of downsizing. Levi’s almost gone. We don’t need a 5 bedroom house anymore. We’re thinking small and sparse. I think that Spartan outlook needs to clean deeper than our closets. I need to clear out in my mind a lot of extraneous good things from the past and get on to what is immediately at hand. The prize is ahead.

Prayer
Father, show me how to clutter-free my life. Amen.