Putting Down The Trash (Getting Past Your Past)

It was a 1984 Toyota Camry with about three million miles on it, would start about 50% of the time and had to be put in neutral anytime I came to a stoplight because, if I didn’t the engine would shut off. 

I hated that car!  And – because of my pure disdain for it I hardly ever washed it, much less cleaned out the inside. 

However, an occurrence was taking place in my life on one particular evening that was about as rare as a complete solar eclipse…

…I had a date! 

So, because of this I thought I had better clean out my car so the young lady I was going out with would not get lost in the pile of trash that had accumulated in my passenger’s seat—thrash that myself and others had left there for what seemed like decades. 

It took a while for me to get all of the trash out – and when I did my arms were literally filled with the garbage I had collected. 

I walked into my office and, as soon as I did, the phone began ringing (if you can imagine—these were the days when there were no cell phones!) 

I promise what happened next is not made up…

…I panicked! 

I remembered it was 11:00 and I was expecting a very important phone call, a call that was going to ultimately decide what my next step in life was going to be. 

However, I could not answer the phone because my arms were loaded down with garbage.  

As I stood there for what seemed like hours, looking at the phone helplessly and trying to figure out what in the heck to do a voice in my head told me, “put down the trash.” 

I know it sounds simple – in fact, you were probably thinking that all along.  However, at the time, for whatever reason that thought in particular had never occurred to me. 

I was able to find the trashcan, unload all of my garbage there and then pick up the phone and engage in one of the most important conversations of my life. 

I laugh as I look back on that story because, what seems so simple and obvious now was not clear at all in the moment…

…and that’s the way it is with life as well.

All of us accumulate “garbage” in life, emotional garbage, physical garbage, spiritual garbage (whether it’s ours or someone gave it to us.)

And, far too many of us carry that trash around like I carried it from my Camry that day. 

And when opportunities come our way (like the phone call) we can miss them completely if we choose to remain paralyzed, holding on to the trash, thus not allowing us to take a potential next step. 

So, I want to say here what that voice said to me inside my head so many years ago, “Put down the trash.” 

Or, a better way of saying it would be how Peter said in in I Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

One of the things I am learning is it is never a burden for me to take all of my trash and give it to Jesus. 

He doesn’t roll His eyes. 

He doesn’t put His hands on His hips and shake His head. 

He doesn’t say, “get that garbage out of here!” 

No – He wants it because He know it will crush the life out of us if we try to continually carry it. 

Going back to my car for just a second (I really did hate that car!)  I didn’t just clean it out one time and I was done forever.  Over and over again I had to take the garbage out and throw it away. 

Which is the way it is with the trash from our past and the anxiety from our current situation.  I wish I could say all we have to do it “give it all to Jesus” one time and we are good for life.  However, I find myself in situations over and over again where I am having to continually re-surrender my anxiety to Him…

…because…

…even though I have surrender certain situations to Him before—I find myself taking them back!   

It is so freeing to see this invitation in the Scriptures – to cast ALL of our anxiety on Him, why – because He cares for us! 

He has seen every tear we’ve cried. 

He has been up with us all night when we could not sleep. 

He has held the universe together when we felt like our world was falling apart. 

And when we can’t handle it anymore – He can! 

So, whatever you are carrying around that is weighing you down – take a few minutes and “cast your anxiety on Him” – He can handle it.