A few weeks ago I read a story about a woman who was the classic "pack rat." She lived alone. Her house was filled with stuff. Tall stacks of papers, bags, clothes, pots and pans, and all the other kinds of things available for purchase took up nearly all the space in all the rooms. The woman moved through her house via narrow corridors that ran among the stacks.

Naturally, she paid a price. She never invited anyone over, and after a time no called on her. Her "stuff" owned her, isolated her, and turned her into a lonely person.

For a long time, she felt trapped. She was not the kind of person to hire an outside consultant to come in and clean out her house. Besides, she figured even if she did so, she would only fill it again over time. She could not find the energy and hope necessary to try and clean out the house in one fell swoop. Then one day she had an idea: "Suppose I threw or gave away one item per day and did not replace it."

Much to her own amazement, it worked. Day by day she selected one item, disposed of it, and refused to replace it with another item. After several years, her house had been transformed into a liveable, welcoming environment. More importantly, she had been changed as well. Her self-confidence grew, she began to connect with people, she was not alone anymore.

When you and I look seriously at what we are meant to become in Christ, we may be daunted. Most of us benefit from focusing on the immediate, on whatever we can do today to take one step in the direction Christ would have move. Remember this the next time you become discouraged as you try to build a life of prayer, develop a passion for biblical justice, trust God more, or practice sacrificial love.