When I was a child, every closet, bureau, cabinet, and item in the house got the Helen Examination. The only thing I did not open was my mother’s cedar chest, which was precious to her.
The more-than-100-year-old cedar chest is mine now. While filling it with my own keepsakes precious but ordinary things—it struck me: Many of us keep and carry things, not just in physical storage boxes, but in the trunks of our souls. And when there’s “junk in our trunk,” it can get in the way of a free flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
After removing the junk from our trunk, it’s time to close the lid and call it a hope chest—ready to be filled with God’s wonderful promises (Psalm 116:8-9). Jesus’ words become a cause for rejoicing: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
This message is an excerpt from “Give us this day: Got junk in your trunk?” by Helen Hollingsworth in the May 2021 issue of Gather magazine. Today we remember Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, who died in 1179.
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