The paper shredder whirred again, issuing noises that it was getting tired of paper after paper being shoved through the chute. I heard the shredder’s occasional rebellion, and sometimes muttered under my breath, “Well, get used to it! We’re just getting started.”

When people reflect on their own lives, and realize that there is a lot more time that we had in the past than time left in the future for us, we drift into realizing our mortality. As believers in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; we understand “mortality” simply means the life that our human body has. We understand we have an eternal life ahead. But relocating due to family or career choices requires gather our “stuff” up and taking it somewhere else. It can be a daunting task, so often, we would rater move the smallest amount possible. In other words, “stuff” takes up space, and “stuff” takes up time.

Many times, people of significant means do not think of “downsizing” in the traditional sense. But the thing people do before downsizing is decluttering. Why? Because humans seem to accumulate thigs over time, and having to move it ALL can be a climactic moment. Downsizing or decluttering can be painful due to the separation of us and our stuff. But if we do it carefully, methodically, and periodically, we find there is a freedom in the results!

The same thing goes for our mental and spiritual decluttering. When we are doing too much, it means we have too much on our minds, and therefore, too much on our hearts. We end up with too much to keep track of. The more we have to keep track of, there’s less time for God, Godly things, and Godly growth in our lives. Decluttering our minds will declutter our hearts, as well.

Do we have time for workplace evangelism? On many occasions, we claim that we don’t have the time. Why? We claim there’s just too much on our plates to fit it in. How many of us will confess that we don’t spend enough time in prayer? Many hands will go up on that one. So, why DON’T we pray more? Pray longer? Pray with more intensity? Because we have TOO MUCH “stuff” going on in our heads and in our schedules.

Think about this: When we go to God in prayer, we actually go into God’s presence! Imagine, being in the company of our Holy God, Almighty? Can you imagine when we bow in prayer, God automatically focuses on our petitions? We can be in praise mode, thankful mode, suffering mode, happy mode, quiet contemplation mode, or anger mode looking for guidance in a turbulent situation. But we can not appreciate the glory and splendor of His presence if we can’t fit the proper time WITH Him, because there’s too much other stuff swirling in our brains!

Key point: HAVE WE EVER BEEN IN PRAYER WITH GOD, AND ASKED HIM IF IT’S OK TO STOP? ASKED HIM IF IT’S OK TO GO? Isn’t this a very convicting question? Think about this too: WHY would we want to rush away from being in His presence? Where do we get our real strength? Where do we get power? Where do we get peace? ANSWER: From being WITH Him …… 1 Thessalonians 5:17 even says, ”Pray without ceasing.” So be in the attitude of prayer all the time.

Taking the steps to declutter our hearts and minds with temporal things, while keeping the incredibly important spiritual things in place results in more productive time with God. Let’s try that starting today. Try to realize that being in HIS presence is the most desirable thing a human can achieve on this planet. There’s a challenge for all of us, right?

“Lord, Is there a way we can “prove” our love for You? Yes, there are many ways. So touch our hearts, Lord. Bring us to a point where we hunger for time with You. Lord, I remember being with an executive of a large company, and he had an astounding thing to say. This senior VP said he prays like this, “Lord, there is SO much more to do today and to get results that can affect everyone in the company; that I have to spend even more time in prayer to get them all completed.” That doesn’t make logical sense because we carnally think we must rob time from prayer to devote time to the other things. But, Lord, You have supernatural power to transcend logic and time. You have to power to work behind the scenes in others to achieve amazing results in the lives of people who love You. We are excited to see what You are going to do!!! In Jesus’ Name, Amen!”