Article February 21, 2011 Issue

What’s in your closet?

By Elaine Jarvis

In the book of Matthew in the Bible, we read of Jesus’ directions to his followers about how to pray effectively: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (6:6). As I understand it, “entering the closet” really means quieting one’s consciousness. Jesus literally withdrew from the hubbub of the city and the clamor of the crowds to pray. We can do likewise in our thought, “shutting the door” by quieting our thought through prayer. 

Recently the comparison between one’s thought and a closet made me think about the concept literally. I don’t know about your house, but I couldn’t get my foot, let alone my whole body, into any of my closets. And then to be able to shut the door after I am in it? No way!

I was thinking about this as I cleaned out one of my house’s closets, making piles of what was to be thrown out, what was in the wrong place, and what was going back in. I vacuumed and dusted. It was a lot of work. After I admired all the progress I had made, I began to place things back into the closet. Something happened, though. I found myself being much choosier about what I was willing to put back in there. After all, it had been a lot of work to clear the closet out.