One Wee Spark

I just returned from a trip to San Francisco, CA. My purpose for travelling to SanFran was to be a participant in the Mental Health Association of San Francisco 's Annual Conference on Hoarding and Cluttering. MHA-SF has been doing this for the last 12 years and has a community-based task force second to none. They are the leaders in reaching out, advocating, and treating those who struggle with stuff. Initially, I decided to go for my own purposes. As a family member of someone who is clutter-affected, I wanted to go hoping to learn something. As a former participant of the show "Hoarders", I wanted to network with others treating and working with family members. As a human being still in process who decided this was the year to stop being defined by my own fears, I wanted to step out and not wait to be invited. So I registered for the conference, made flight, hotel, and car arrangements, and contacted CJ Omololu (author of "Dirty Little Secrets" who lives in ...

(I John 4:17-21) I am preparing for a trip this week, a trip that I believe God is placing before me to expand the possibilities of ministry calling I felt for the first time in October 2009, standing in the front yard of my mother's horribly destroyed and trash-filled home. My mother is a compulsive hoarder. My earliest memories of her bedroom at my grandparents' home (which would have been age four at the oldest) was of piles of clothes atop a dresser, teetering carelessly near the edge of safety from the floor. My memories of my childhood home are similar--pathways between clutter, trash, junk mail, appliances that stood taking up space but not functioning. I grew up in chaos and squalor. But I am not a hoarder. And my mother has made miraculous steps toward managing her condition. Hours and hours have been spent in prayer for her healing, and although I did not seek it, for restoration and healing in our relationship as mother and daughter. I did not seek it because I was n...

In a recent conversation with a friend, I shared my decision to walk away from some experiences that I felt obligated previously to be a part of. I explained to my friend that although I cared deeply about these people and our shared experiences, I knew that I must choose my overall health over helping from time to time. That's what establishing and practicing healthy boundaries is all about. As the child of dysfunction, the larger part of me wants to stay and help at any cost to myself or others. I want to make a difference, to make others happy. People pleasing is such an easy practice for the child of dysfunction. And I battle this daily. Basically, I summed the situation up: "You can sell hope, but not everybody's buying." It's catchy, isn't it? But upon deeper reflection, it's not really selling at all. It's Saturday afternoon and we're headed for the BIG families' favorite store, Costco. Since it's Saturday, it's crowded throughou...