Published on 11/13/2006

Commentary

It's a tough time to be a Sonic. Today's New York Times reports that the Seattle NBA franchise is apparently going to move, after the city voted against public subsidies for sports teams. People in Sacramento recently made a similar decision not to raise sales taxes to build a new stadium for their Kings.

Maybe people in New York City could rent the stadiums left behind. Sunday's Times tells us that condominiums and co-ops in the city are turning mop closets into storage units which can be rented or sold. Many of the spaces have waiting lists that run for years, becoming available only when someone moves out or dies.

For instance, Peggy and Jose Alonso learned that their co-op on New York City's East 90th Street was offering a 10-by-10-foot basement storage room for sale. The space had a dirt floor, no door, and shares a wall with a boiler room. Eight people bid on it. The Alonsos won with a bid of $38,500. They've spent another $5,000 to finish the space and put in shelves.

If people in New York City don't want to store their stuff in Seattle, they can talk to me. A week ago I spent the longest Saturday of my life cleaning out our garage. After eight-plus years in our house, stuff we don't want but didn't throw out was multiplying faster than rabbits. A broken, mildewed pup tent and warped volleyball set had shoved my golf clubs to the corner of the garage (where they belong, given their recent performance). A skateboard with no skates was cohabiting with rollerblades which are now six sizes too small for their previous occupants. A weedeater which consumed more string than weeds was barring the way to my workbench (not that I do much work there). Management decreed that the time had come to take back the garage from the non-paying residents occupying it. The battle was hard, but I finally emerged victorious. New Yorkers can now rent my newly-cleaned garage for $38,500. Better hurry before new squatters arrive.

What I do to my garage every eight years or so, I need to do to my soul every few days. Small sins of attitude and thought are stored away and ignored until they eat away at the foundations of my spiritual house. "Out of sight, out of mind" doesn't mean out of heart and spirit. Just because my neighbors cannot yet see my private sins doesn't mean they'll stay in the garage for long. What lives in the shed today will be in my den tomorrow.

How do we clean out the garage of our souls? First, we decide that we must. We admit that we need to spend a Saturday on our spiritual lives. How? Let's continue tomorrow.