I’ve been hot and heavy into a purging project lately.
Have you ever been scared when you looked inside your closet and wondered, “At what point did this become such a mess?!”
Slowly over time, item after item made its way into your life and eventually to the closet.
And slowly but surely, all that “stuff” started to feel like it was closing in all around, suffocating.
Are you one of those who have clothes with the tags still on them, hanging somewhere in the deep abyss of your closet for the day “just incase” it might be the perfect thing for an occasion?
Or maybe it was on sale but it was just ever-so-slightly too small for you, but you took the gamble and make the purchase because once you lose those ten pounds you’ll be able to rock that outfit like none other!
No judgement.
It got me, too.
The lure, the system… whatever you want to call it.
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In our recent move to the great state of Texas (yeehaw!), I had to start parting with a lot of things.
There are more reasons than one for this purging project, but one of the things I have been thinking about a lot as I have to off-load so many clothes and other things I had to have is how much has been wasted.
The wasted money is obvious.
It basically screams at me when I watch the discard pile stacked on the bed growing higher and higher.
I can’t help but think of the amount of money all that cost at one point.
But even beyond the money is the time that was spent to acquire those items.
Whether it was flipping through the sale racks at TJ Maxx or seeing what Zappos had to offer that I just couldn’t resist, the reality is, my irreplaceable time was spent in pursuing those things that I’m now finding were metaphorically suffocating me.
The older I get and the more moves we have to make with this military life, the less and less I want to have.
I’ve learned that there comes a tipping point with “stuff…”
What started out as a fun idea or something that I thought had so much potential to bring happiness or functionality to my life can quickly give way to unchecked consumerism.
The things I bought to own can easily begin to own me.
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Isn’t that the way things go with life sometimes?
Beyond material possessions, I mean.
The good intentions we may begin with, if left unchecked and without safe boundaries and personal discipline, easily give way to a slippery slope that takes us on a ride away from where we actually want to be in life.
Have you ever come face-to-face with that reality before?
If we’re being honest, most of us have.
It’s ok.
We’re all learning here, right?
But one of the traps we can easily fall into in all this is despair.
Despair over the wasted.
The wasted money.
The wasted time.
The wasted resources.
The wasted opportunities.
The wasted potential…
I swear we have an enemy who loves to bait and set this trap especially for those who know deep down inside that they hold so much potential. If that’s you, don’t take the bait.
Head up- Let’s keep moving…
—
Ok, so where do we go from here?
Well, we have two options:
- We can sit in the despair. We truly do have every right to do that if we want. – I mean, it’s not a good choice, but we’re free Americans – we get to choose.
OR
2. We can take inventory of the lessons learned in the wasteland, and we can give it all we’ve got to move forward from there. We don’t have to keep making the same choices that lead to the results that hurt us.
And just a reminder for those who may need it:
God is your friend in all this- not your enemy.
He is the one who is beckoning you to higher ground.
He is the one who is reaching forward to pull you toward the things He wants for you.
He is the one who is faithful to do what He says He’ll do – and not to bust your bubble, but He isn’t going to quit on His record of faithfulness on you.
He is the ultimate Restorer.
You haven’t wasted so much that He cannot restore to you what He intended for you.
One step forward at a time…
Easy does it – you’ll be ok.
Hold fast to the truth.
You know who you are, and you know Who’s you are – get back in the saddle and keep moving forward in grace and truth.
Nothing is wasted with God.
