Do you know anyone who has a pool table? Do they play pool on it much? Didn't think so.

We thought a pool table was a grand idea at one time. In fact, it was one of the first pieces of furniture we bought after building our house. However, if you understood how lacking our skills were in this game, you might wonder why in the world we decided we needed a pool table. As I said...it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Since our sons were pretty much grown, we thought they might visit us a little more if they didn't actually have to spend all their time 'visiting' us. They were both very good at the game and enjoyed it immensely so it wasn't much of a leap to think this might be a good purchase. Wrong again. Although they do enjoy playing when they're here, I don't believe they come any more often than they would have come if we didn't have a pool table.

It turns out that this pool table isn't such a great idea after all. It is a 'catch all'. Whatever we have in our hands when we walk into the house finds itself on the pool table. It has pretty much been that way since day one. We had a friend who spent a lot of time at our house and whenever he saw me cleaning off the pool table he would say, "Uh oh, company must be coming." And you know what? He was right. That's about the only time it would get cleared but I didn't want company to see the mess.

But we are not alone. We know other people who own pool tables and it seems to be the same for them. The clutter stacks up until someone comes to visit.

Is there clutter in your life? Oh, I'm not talking about the kind that sits on the pool table. I'm referring to the cares of this world weighing you down. Did you know there is a place to clean up the clutter? You can find just such a place while kneeling at the altar in church. But simply clearing the clutter of the soul on Sunday morning and then allowing it to stack up throughout the week can be a frustrating way to live. Certainly the church altar is a wonderful place to unload all those heavy burdens. It's also a great spot to leave them. But it's much less frustrating if you clean the clutter daily at the altar of your heart.

1 Peter 5:7-9 (NLT) tells us to, 'Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.'

Just as I discovered there are other people who suffer the same problems with their pool table as I have, you can be sure that you have Christian brothers and sisters with many of the same struggles you have in your life. If so, you might want to encourage them as well.

After all, clutter is no fun to live in.