I’m not a minimalist or a neat freak, although I sometimes wish I had those tendencies. And while I’m not overly attached to objects, I do get stuck with sentimental items. How many keepsakes do you keep? What do you do with them? And where do they go?

These days everything ends up in boxes and is shoved in my closet. It’s now filled with memories to the point I barely open it because it is so overwhelming.

There are boxes filled with photos, letters and cards, notes from school friends, and even some old trophies and medals. There is so much stuff. I think about ways to pare it down without throwing everything out, like scanning or creating mega albums to go on my bookshelf. But then I calculate how much time it would take and I close the door and leave it for another day.

This came to mind as I listened to Chuck Swindoll’s sermon Life...as God Intended It. He says we have so much stuff (literal and figurative) that we end up buried in it to the point we lose focus. Because our stuff is so overwhelming, we deal with what is urgent and leave everything else for another day.

So how do we regain control over all of our stuff?

The solution is probably a little different for everyone, but for me it seems to be an issue of time management. I look at big projects and assume I don’t have time for them, so do nothing. By managing my time better and planning ahead, I’m learning how to break my big, intimidating tasks down into manageable pieces.

Part of this means I need to set a few measurables (like clean out my closet, decide how to deal with sentimental items, and implement boundaries so this doesn’t happen again) as well as create room in my schedule to work on them.

The goal in all of this is to get back on track. To live how God intends me to. Chuck Swindoll says God wants us to live abundantly—and challenges us to remember this every day.

We all know this life doesn’t last long (best described in James 4:13-17) so my challenge to myself and to you is to live life to the fullest. Let’s take care of our stuff.