Hoarding

I watched several hoarding shows on TV which brought back memories of five people I knew from years back that were ‘Christian’ hoarders. I personally help them to try to clean up their places but all just started over ‘collecting’.
One was a lady that cleans other homes for a living and she was very good at her job. But her home was just a path that could be walked through. You had to clean off a chair to sit down or make room at any table to use. The counter was filled with everything but what was needed in the kitchen. The dinning room table was loaded as for storage place; she said it was ‘stuff to give away’, eventually.
Her children and husband just got use to it to make mom, happy. She was a regular church attender but did not have many ‘outsiders’ in.
Many would blame the children for the ‘mess’ but when they grew out, things did not change.
Church people collect Christian tapes, DVDs, books, magazines ect. More than they will ever get back to lessoning to or read, they can’t seem to throw anything away, or give away. Maybe it is a collection of memories that they hang on to. They store them in every room, even in their garages, storage sheds, or barns.
I even had one lady tell me “cleaning is not her gifting!” My answer was “What ever He gave us to take care of we are accountable for.”
Then they get ‘overwhelmed’ with trying to clean it up or go through along.
One lady that was very prominent in the church would have me over once a year to do the cleaning for her. I would sit her down in the middle of the room and bring her box after box to go through. We would find cash in all kinds of hidden places. Not that much got thrown out but the boxes got labeled and stack nicely. Eventually I refused to go, for we never seemed to make head way. She had many church people over but they were kept in the ‘clean’ areas.
I knew two men that were hoarders. One was the worse I have ever seen; three times I cleaned out his place. The last time I called the church to come over to help for it was overwhelming for me. I opened the window and threw furniture and many bags out as the church men haled it all away. His place smelled so bad that no one else would come in, not even the city people. He owned cats that went everywhere and any where for the litter box was never cleaned out. One cat escaped out and when I caught it, she was very loving until I got close to his door and the fight was on.
There were maggots’ in the bed, for he ate there. Maggots’ in the unopened food, it just was unbelievable! If his clothes were too dirty, he just bought new ones.
My church friend was very devoted to his church but he was a hoarder. He loved to buy everything that was advertised on TV, but he never even opened the boxes. He just liked to say he had ‘things’ and he had the money to buy them. He never had any people from church come to visit no one even expected he had a problem.
The TV shows say hoarders have a mental problem. This is a material world; excess things have become too important to us! Maybe subconsciously it fulfills some need that has been missing in their lives. Replacing loneliness, being in a church body does not mean anyone comes to visit. A lost of a love one, is replaced with things. Hoarders don’t seem to overcome their difficulty of letting go with out therapy to address the issues that started them collecting.
Seems like people are hurting more and covering it up in many different ways.