Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

The Basement

January 13, 2010  

photo by photobucket

photo by photobucket

The weather has stretched Christmas out by an extra couple of weeks here, at least on the outside. Wind chills below zero have kept lights on the trees and guttering and wise men still in search of Baby Jesus. By and large people seem fine with this. If they’re not, it hasn’t gotten to the point where getting on with things outweighs the risk of hypothermia.

I would imagine that if anyone is relieved at a little Christmas overtime, it’s Kenny. Not just because seven-year-old boys wouldn’t mind seeing sparkling lights and an inflatable Santa in his yard an extra month out of the year, but because helping his father take them down would require going into the basement.

And Kenny doesn’t like the basement.

I have a theory that every house has a junk room. A place where all the I’ll-put-it-here-for-now stuff goes, whether keepsakes or yard sale fodder or stuff you really need to throw away but just can’t bring yourself to do so. For some, that place is the attic. For folks like me, it’s a shed in the backyard. For Kenny’s family, it’s the basement.

All of that old and mostly forgotten stuff down there gives him the willies. It’s scary down there, he’s told me. Dark and stinky, too. It’s where the spiders and mice and ghosts live. Also the furnace. That’s the worst. Kenny’s convinced their furnace is the gateway to hell itself.

At night before bed, he doesn’t worry about the front or back doors being locked. Kenny worries about the basement door. He’s seen the movies (though he won’t fess up and tell me which movies he’s talking about) and knows what can happen. In other words, he isn’t afraid of something coming in, he’s afraid of something coming up. It’s a fear magnified by the fact that the lock is on the inside of the door instead of the outside. The builder’s mistake, and one Kenny’s father has never gotten around to fixing. Which means the spiders and mice and ghosts can keep everything in, but Kenny can’t keep them out.

This fear—this dread—is Kenny’s alone. He hasn’t told his parents about the basement, and how he worries about the lock on the door before he goes to bed, and how he prays his dad will eventually change the lock around to the other side so Kenny could get in but they couldn’t get out. But he won’t say anything. It would make him seem like a kid. And when you’re a kid, the very last thing you want is to act like one.

Me, I understand all of this. The kid part, but especially the part about the basement. I might not have one of those in my own house, but I do have one inside of me. Deep down and seldom seen. It’s the place where all my junk is kept, the fears and worries and failures. The sins I’ve committed and the regrets I have.

It’s a mess, my basement. Junky and moldy and dark. I suspect things crawl around down there, too. And there are ghosts. Plenty of ghosts.

But I’m not alone. Flip through your Bible and you’ll find plenty of people with junky basements. Moses had one, what with that murder charge and all. David, too. Peter junked his up pretty when he denied Christ after saying he never would. And let’s not forget Paul, who had on his hands the blood of hundreds.

They found out the very thing we do—living with junk in the basement isn’t just scary, it’s tough.

But they also found out that God can clean up those basements. He can get rid of the junk, scrub everything down, and chase away all the nasties. But He can’t do it alone. We have to open the door and let Him in. Because like Kenny’s house, there are locks on our basement doors, and they all lock from the inside.

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Comments

  • http://buzzbyannies.blogspot.com Annie K

    Luckily I don’t have a basement…oh wait..not in my house anyway.

  • http://topsy.com/tb/is.gd/6aAUg Tweets that mention The Basement : Billy Coffey — Topsy.com

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  • http://shortybearsplace.blogspot.com/ Denise

    Amen.

  • http://TheHomesteadHeart.com Tina Dee

    Ohhhhh myyy gooooossshhhh, you saw into the basement of my heart on that one. I didn’t even know I had one, but now I understand all that ‘junk’ that’s been hanging around in there. Thanks, Billy, for the reminder of which side the lock is on and which way pulls the door open. I like Who is standing on the other side and it’s long past time to invite Him in to help with all that stuff cluttered in the darkness of my heart.

  • http://www.zimmages.blogspot.com BeckeyZ

    I haven’t lived in a house with a basement in ages, but I know if I did, like Kenny, it would freak me out too.

    As for the basement inside of me, past regrets, deep dark secrets….though there may be many, the fact that I have Jesus in there too sure does ease my mind and calm any fears.

  • http://www.steeletheday.com Candy

    Dang, Billy. Another “gotcha.”

  • http://www.skirt.com/getaclewis/blog/love-dare Cheryl

    Billy, you said this as well as it can be said. I’m just discovering your writing and I love it! My inner basement is cluttered (hmm… looks a lot like my house, come to think of it – dang) &, at times, I have fiercely held onto that old-fashioned key in hopes that Jesus couldn’t peer in. Hah. What a mistake. Seems the spiders and dust mites thrive when He’s not invited. Who knew… Jesus as Maid Brigade. He helped me clean up my Life and put a shining Light bulb in the basement. It’s clean as a whistle now. If only my house was so lucky. :)

  • http://www.pridelandsmommy.blogspot.com *~Michelle~*

    yikes….I am pretty sure my basement cleaning is recorded and watched by the angels in Heaven as God’s version of “Dirty Jobs”……HA!

  • http://hisfirefly.blogspot.com HisFireFly

    Isn’t it funny how we think we can put things in the basement or another locked room and Jesus won’t see them? As the piles get bigger, He just waits. And waits. And. Waits. And when the entire mess tumbles we like to blame Him instead of ourselves.

    Oh my Lord, thank You for your grace, that You would tolerate such fools as us!

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  • http://blog.breakthroughalaska.com jasonS

    That junk never stays in the basement, does it? Good post, Billy. Thanks.

  • http://godsheart-heart2heart.blogspot.com Kat

    Billy,

    WOW what a power-filled post this is for all of us stopping by here to read it. Too often we, like the stuff we put away that should be thrown out, push our hurts, our feelings of disappointment and even fears down inside and hope that since no one can see them, that they have gone.

    I love that we can invite God in, and He can remove that stuff once and for all and live it a better place than before.

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

  • http://joannesher.blogspot.com Joanne Sher

    Just WOW. Yes. Got me too. WOW.

  • http://www.randommusings-helen.blogspot.com Helen

    I too have to get after that gunk in the basement.

  • http://www.BridgetChumbley.com Bridget

    I think Candy’s “gotcha” is perfect!

    Thanks for another wonderfully written reminder that we can all relate to, Billy.

  • http://lexiconluvr.blogspot.com L.T. Elliot

    I love the feeling of a clean basement. If only I wouldn’t keep cluttering it up.

  • Caroline

    So right! Thank you Billy

  • http://www.endeanmom1.blogspot.com Beth E.

    I guess we all have those basements/sheds/closets where we try to keep things hidden. Sooner or later, though, we’ve gotta do some housecleaning! With God’s help, we can accomplish that.

    I know I’ve not been commenting regularly Billy. For that, I apologize. Your posts are always a blessing!

  • http://www.chrissulli.com Chris Sullivan

    I’m looking forward to the book. You are an absurdly good writer.

  • http://www.lynnrush.com Lynn Rush

    Awesome–”We have to open the door and let Him in”–spot on, Billy.

  • http://www.buytramadol.ca distresseddamsel

    I could never have said it better. Very insightful and right on the spot. One of the bad things about this basement though is that some people lock themselves up in it for quite a long time that they have forgotten that the basement is just a part of their home and not their home itself. Speaking of which, I better start cleaning up my basement soon.

  • http://theextraordinaryordinary.blogspot.com Heather of the EO

    Oh yes. I love that last line, too. It’s locked from the inside. It seems the unlocking would be MUCH easier than trying to live with all the clutter and fear. But for some reason we find it so hard to just reach for the door and unlock it.

    I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday, about the reasons we don’t want clean up. About how I think it might be because we’re afraid that we won’t know ourselves without it, the stuff, behaviors, etc that have become comfortable. Which wouldn’t happen, we’d simply be free, but it’s a fear anyway.

  • http://staceysthoughtsoninfertility.blogspot.com Stacey

    I’m late commenting on it, but I love this post, Billy. Well-said and so true! Thanks. I always read your posts, but I’m usually a few days late getting over here. I follow and support about 60 other bloggers who (like me) are struggling with infertility and miscarriage, which takes up the bulk of my time spent on the internet, but which I also consider a ministry and a community that I’m honored to be a part of. I bring that up here because I have lots of pain and anxiety and worry locked away in my basement, along with memories of past failures, loss, and grief. It’s hard to keep looking ahead and moving forward with all of that stuff weighing me down, but it’s what I’m striving for. I’m ready to give God the key. Thanks for the motivation!