now that 2013 has drawn to a close, i can look back on this past year and identify two prevalent themes woven throughout the year—money and boxes.
unfortunately, the year did not involve boxes of money.

2013 was an expensive year. some things were very good things, and some of those were not fun, grownup expenses. but there was never one moment when God didn’t supply what we needed when we needed it. nothing more, nothing less. exactly.

and the boxes? well, we moved. so there was the acquisition of boxes. the assembling of boxes. the packing of boxes. the labeling of boxes. the moving of boxes. the unpacking of boxes. the disassembling of boxes. the removal of boxes.

well, most of the boxes.
there’s a few filled with random, semi-useless but not quite trash-worthy items.
i don’t really have space to store them, so they just sit in a corner.
they require time, effort, decisions.
some of the items in there may require additional steps that may domino into more items on my to-do list.

and i just don’t want to deal with them.
i don’t think i have it in me to tackle another thing.
but it’s about more than a box.
it’s about all those things i know i should be doing, or supposed to do, or have to do that also get shoved to the corner.

i’m not lazy.
from the moment i get up in the morning until i go to bed, there’s always something that needs to be done.

but there are those items that i know i should tackle, but i just leave them in the corner.

like my weight. i’ve gained about 20 pounds and i feel it. it’s not a vanity issue. i feel like it’s affecting my health.

or exercise. there’s a treadmill in the corner of my basement that i need to make an appointment with.

or my wife. we need to figure out how to have a date night once a month.

or my boys. i need to find ways to connect with them as they get older, and time with friends becomes more and more important.
and those are just a few.

so the question is, will i deal with those things in 2014, or will they just grow dusty in the corner?
will they be things that i know i should do, or the things i actually do?
i honestly don’t know.
but i do know that i can keep stepping over the box.
or i can do something about it.

2014 will reveal if it’s the year of unpacking, or another year of boxes.

what about you?
what are the boxes sitting around you—the things that you want to do, get done, address, that never seem to be addressed?

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image courtesy of flickr.com/creative commons/by mattcornock