Unnecessary

I tend to be a little on the hoarder side when it comes to my possessions.

There. I admitted it.

It's not because I love things. On the contrary- I find that the older I get, the more I want to throw away and the less I want to buy things.

The hoarder side of me comes in when I remember that the dusty porcelain doll that I haven't taken down from the shelf in ten years came from my dear aunt, whom I would never dream of offending. That's why the doll- and many others like it- survives my yearly cleaning rampage.

When I was without an automobile a few weeks ago due to a necessary repair, I took the morning to go on a much-needed cleaning spree. Silencing the, "But you might offend your aunt!" voice in my head, I threw away a lot of things and started making plans to give away a lot more.

While the refreshing process was taking place, I began to think about how my usual attitude toward my closet reflected my usual attitude toward prayer- there's a lot of unnecessary "stuff."

Now, it's not that prayer is unnecessary, so please don't get me wrong. Prayer is one of the most important parts of our walk with Christ. What I'm talking about is all of the extra words that we tend to throw in our prayers to make them more "acceptable," "nice to listen to," and "Christian."

Why don't I just get down to the honest (and sometimes ugly) truth with God? Why don't I talk to Him openly, like the Friend and Father that He is? Instead of trying to make my prayers sound impressive and well-scripted, why don't I come to Him in my humble, helpless state and tell Him what's really on my heart? He's the only One in the universe who can completely understand, anyway.

If you, like me, struggle in this area, I encourage you to really focus on getting rid of the unnecessary, flowery language that we often put in our prayers and begin to be open with God the way that we were created to be. It may not be spring just yet, but some spring cleaning is definitely in order.