Put it back where it belongs

One of the family catch phrases I often heard growing up was "put it back where it belongs".  Not to be outdone, I can't begin to guess how many times we uttered that same catch phrase when we were raising our seven kids.  And I would bet that if walls had ears, they would hear the same thing in the homes of those now seven families.  My guess would be that those words are spoken in your house as well.  Whenever we say those words, we are referring to things.  Could be toys, books, tools, just about anything. 

"Put it back where it belongs" has a huge application in the daily life of every man, husband, and father....one that transcends the home.  It applies to each of us in a very personal and meaningful way.  It applies to our "stuff"-- the trash, the dregs, the failures, and the mistakes of our past.  Those are the things that we often massage and hold on to as a means of reminding ourselves that we are not good or right.  Those are the things that drag us down in our thoughts of ourselves, and thus interfere in allowing us to be all that we can be.

Do you get it?  We can never change our past.  It is what it is.   So when those thoughts of your past "junk" wiggles its way into your present, forgive yourself for whatever it is and put it back where it belongs..in the junk room of the past.  I have found that the more it is put there, the longer it stays there each time.  And what happens as a result?  A new future is being built.

So, why not put it where it belongs?