There was a man who was on in years. By all rights, he was a good, hardworking man who had recently retired from his job of over 30 years. The job had required much travel from him in every country you can think of from Africa to India. He was often gone from home, but seemed to enjoy what he did. His wife was a kind, gentle gal who supported his career that had, in turn, supported her for so many years. They were happy but underneath all the exteriors of a nice house, nice cars and a nice pension, something was missing. Something always seemed to be missing... in him.
They had but one child, a daughter. She was a typical 'only child' in that whatever she needed in life was hers for the asking and taking. She went to the finest schools and wore the finest clothes, mostly given to her by her mom. She grew in life and love, married and had a son.
But the one thing she did not receive much in life was attention from her father. His distance in the family, partly due to his job and partly due to his lack of attention to her needs, had always left her feeling somewhat unworthy; as if she needed to continually prove herself to him. He seemed so obsessed with work and with purchasing certain things, that he rarely put time towards his only child. He always justified this by saying, 'the bills won't pay themselves'.
Recently her marriage had failed and this was a sore spot for her and her father. He didn't know the man very well, but thought it 'poor taste' to leave the man she once begged him to like, even though he warned her about marrying a man she hardly knew. 'I guess my opinion doesn't matter much to you', he would often say to her. Little did he know, it's all that mattered to her. Never mind that her husband was unfaithful to her and left her, it was still made to be her failure in her father's eyes. Try as she might, she never seemed to be able to please him.
One day the man's wife said to him, 'Today our daughter is going to be visiting; I hope you'll be around'. He looked rather uninterested-interested and said, 'Well, I have much to do around here so you two make out for yourselves; I'll see her when I can.' The wife looked down as if she was nervous about the next words she would say. Almost in a half whisper she said, 'She will also be bringing Timmy with her and he would love to spend time with you.'
The man looked cross at her and said, 'Timmy? Is this another of her boyfriends that is no good? The wife then spoke a bit louder to him as if she was bordering on scolding him. 'Timmy is NOT her boyfriend... it's her son. YOUR grandson. How is it that you don't even remember his name'?
The man stared at her, but more stared through her. His grandson indeed.
Upon their arrival the daughter was nervous for she never knew what to say to her dad. She could never get passed his unending look of disappointment in her. She hugged her mom and then her dad without really making contact with his eyes. Nor did he look into hers.
"Hi grandpa", a young voice said. The man looked down and with a half smile said, 'Well, hi there yourself'.
'Do I get to spend time with you today, Grandpa?', the boy questioned with anticipation. 'Well', the man spoke, 'I have much to do in the garage, but I guess you are welcome to be in there if you wish; just don't go messing with too many things'.
The boy smiled and sprinted off towards the massive garage that was large enough for most families to live in. The wife smiled at him and patted him on the back, half in appreciation and half in encouragement; hoping upon hope that he would finally take some time to get to know his grandson.
While they were in the garage the man's grandson could not believe how much stuff was in there. There was a boat, a motorcycle, furniture, a car and a beautiful bicycle that looked as if it had never had a rider. The boy couldn't help but ask, 'Is that your bike grandpa?' The man looked at it and said, 'Yes, and no', he answered.
'What do you mean?', the boy asked confused by his answer. 'Well, that bike was supposed to be for your mom, but I guess I never got around to giving it to her.'
'Why not?' the boy asked.
His Grandpa answered, 'Well, that is a long story and you shouldn't be bothered by it, but let's just say that I decided to put it away instead. Some things just don't get used and they are just put away.'
The boy then looked around at the massive collection of things and couldn't help himself but to blurt out, 'Well, by the looks of things in this garage it seems to me that you are the King of put-away things.'
At first the man smiled at the boy's witty and piffy comment, as if proud that finally someone was appreciating all that he had worked for; for he felt like a King at times while he was amassing this collection of 'stuff'. But then the smile faded into a look of concern. For some reason that title, 'The King of put-away things' began to bother him. He began to look around and notice all the 'things' in his garage.
There was the boat that he had promised his wife they would go sailing in every weekend, but they never did. The motorcycle he promised his friends he would use to go on trips with, but as of yet had not. There was a million tools that were bought with the purpose of building on to his house and giving his wife the green house she always wanted, but it never seemed to work into his schedule. There was at least 2 rooms worth of furniture that he wouldn't allow his wife to give away to a family that needed it because, as he said, 'you never know if we'll need it again'.... as if they didn't already have enough. And then there was the bike. The bike that was to be given to her for her 15th birthday, but wasn't because of some small incident that now he couldn't even remember.
The bike, to him, suddenly represented the broken relationship he had with his daughter. For her whole life she just never quite measured up to his demands; so I guess he was punishing her by what? not giving her the brand new bike he had bought so long ago, he wondered?
A gift that would have sent her spirits soaring, he withheld from her.
Suddenly some tears began to fall from the soft eyes of the hardened man. His grandson quickly asked, 'Grandpa, what's wrong?'
'Oh, it's nothing Timmy', he looked away and said.
'I just got to thinking about some things and realized that I need to do something that I should have done for your mom years ago'. With those words he walked over to the bike, dusted it off and said, 'What do you think champ? Can you ride it?'
The boys face lit up and he shouted, 'you bet I can!' 'Well', the man said, 'it's yours'. And with that, the boy grabbed the bike and took off down the long, winding driveway. It was the first time the man had given anything of note to his daughter or grandson.
After that, the man began to change. He began contacting his daughter and spent time with her and Timmy. He took his wife sailing, went on motorcycle trips with his friends and spent 3 straight weekends cleaning out his garage and gave much of it away to those in need. Soon, he would begin building that greenhouse for his wife.
One day his wife asked him, 'Honey, I've got to know. What has gotten into you recently; you seem so much happier?' He just smiled at her and said that it was something Timmy had said to him and that he no longer wanted to 'put things away'; not just material things, but emotional things as well. For he not only dusted off a bike to give to his grandson, but his hard heart got cleansed as well, and that he would share with everyone.
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Time is short and your 30 years are here.... how should you spend them then? Jesus has told us not to store treasures here on earth. He made it clear what he thought about 'put-away things'. It's the things we give and do for our families and others that have more value than anything we could possibly buy or store up for ourselves. Maybe it's time not for a garage sale, but a garage cleansing.
