Spring cleaning Archives

Spring Cleaning: Let’s Throw Out Stored Hurt

Sharla May 29, 2018

Some things get better with age. Quality wine improves over the years. Some varieties of cheeses need time to age.

Clothes generally do not improve with age. Cotton t-shirts fade. Shoes get worn out. Wool sweaters get moth holes.

Another thing that does not get better over time is stored hurts.

Pain and hurt are inevitable in this life. No one gets the option of a pain-free life. However, we do have a choice about what we do with the hurt.

We can store the hurts in our hearts or we can let them go.

At times we may hold onto the pain, thinking this will hurt the person who caused the pain. But this bitterness is not harming the offender, it is poisoning out own souls.

God asks us to let go of the hurt–to make the choice to forgive:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Mark 11:25

Instead of holding that hurt, forgive. Releasing it will free your soul. The longer we hang onto an offense, the more time it has to scar our hearts.

If it seems too difficult, pray for the ability to throw out that stored hurt. God has grace available to help us deal with the hurt and the hurter. He wants us to come to Him with our bruised hearts to receive both healing and the ability to forgive.

“As we receive the garment of forgiveness, Jesus unravels our bitterness and knits a new luxurious pattern for our lives.” (Divine Design, p. 177)

Toss out stored hurts.

Next step: Have you been hanging onto stored hurts? Ask God to give you the strength to forgive.

Spring Cleaning: Let’s Throw Out Regret

Sharla May 15, 2018

Last week we had dinner with some friends who told us about their philosophy of buying souvenirs while on a trip: “If you think you really want the item, get it. If you think you might regret it if you don’t get it, buy it. You may never have a chance to buy that item again.”

Probably good advice. Regret is a terrible feeling.

Regret is another item we should throw out.

I do have regrets–especially in the area of my mouth. I regret hurtful words that have slipped out my mouth and can never be erased. I feel remorse over words I should have said when I had the chance and didn’t.

But God tells me,

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
Isaiah 43:18

I can’t change the past. Events that have already happened cannot be taken out of the cedar chest and mended. We can’t fix what is already stitched in time.

God continues:

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:19a

The trouble with keeping my eye on the past is that I may not see the new thing God is doing now.

God tells me:

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19b

God can make something new out of the old. Something fresh and vibrant out the dusty and deserted. He can even make something good out of my mistakes. I don’t have the ability to mend the past, but He does.

So throw out regret. Don’t keep it as a souvenir of the past. Observe what God is doing in your life now.

Next step: Reread Isaiah 43:18 above. Turn it into a prayer asking God to help you throw out regret.

Spring Cleaning: Let’s Throw Out False Guilt

Sharla May 1, 2018

When I’m cleaning out my closet, the hardest things for me to throw out are the items I feel guilty about not wearing. I see the gray slacks I bought at one of my favorite stores–slacks I paid a lot of money for–slacks that I was sure would be an asset to my wardrobe. Guess what, I have only worn them twice.

Guilt over spending good money on them prevents me from tossing them out. I think: Surely I’ll wear them next year.

However, a wardrobe expert would advise me to purge the gray slacks. After all, they are simply taking up room in my closet. Eliminating them would simplify my choices and erase the guilt I feel when I see them.
Guilt. It’s something we should toss.

There are two kinds of guilt. Genuine guilt is necessary in our lives. Guilt is what makes us realize that we need a Savior. It is what makes us turn to Jesus for forgiveness.

But once we have confessed our sins, Christ forgives us and He tosses out our guilt. As far as He is concerned, our mistakes, our missteps, our out and out disobedience are all in the garbage can. Our guilt is set out on the curb, ready to be taken away and never seen again.

Sometimes when I clean out my closet, I put the rejects in a box in the basement–just until a charity calls for a donation of used clothing. I have been known to go back down to the box to retrieve an item and bring it back to my closet.

Do you ever go back into the garbage can where God has placed your guilt only to drag it out again?

I know I have. But that is false guilt. As women, we tend to be good at spiritual dumpster-diving. We tend to rehash things in our minds that have long been forgiven and forgotten by God.

Micah 7:19 tells us what God does for us,

Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!

Wow! Not only has God thrown out my sin and guilt, but He has thrown them into the depths of the sea. Even better than putting them in the trash can where I can easily run out to the curb to get them back again.
Leave guilt in its place. Go to God for forgiveness and watch Him throw out your sins never to be seen again. When you’re tempted to retrieve them, picture your guilt at the bottom of the ocean.
Throw out false guilt.

Next step: Have you been spiritual dumpster-diving? Remember, if you have confessed your sin and believe in Christ’s redeeming work done on the cross, you are forgiven! Post Micah 7:19 to remind yourself that God has thrown your sins away!

Spring Cleaning: Let’s Throw Out Expectations

Sharla April 17, 2018

Expectations.

I have a bunch of clothes in my closet that I should throw out because they have failed to live up to my expectations.

the “slim-secret” jeans that actually reveal every secret of my figure
the jacket that I thought would coordinate with so many outfits, but I have yet to find a single item it matches

Expectations.
Maybe it would be good to just throw them out all together.

When I graduated from college with a music degree, I expected to have a bevy of piano students knocking at my door. I assumed I would have an abundance of pupils excelling in music-making.

And even though I married to a pastor, I did not expect to be the church organist. In fact, I told God I would never become a church organist.

However, my husband’s first church was in Missoula, Montana–a beautiful town that an abundance of fine piano teachers and a church (our church) that had no organist. And so my music degree was put to work on the organ.

Life was not turning out as I expected.

The trouble with expectations is that they set you up for disappointment. Just when I think the thing I most want is in my grasp, it falls away. Just when the vision I want for my life begins to focus, it all fades to black.

But even when our expectations have let us down, it doesn’t mean there is no hope.

It just means that we have put our hope in the wrong thing.

The psalmist Asaph had to talk to his soul when he was discouraged. Perhaps his expectations had been crushed. He said:

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
Psalm 42:5

When I put my hope in specific happenings, I may be disappointed.

But if I put my hope and expectations in God, I am never disillusioned. Things may not go as I have planned, but God has bigger and better things in mind.
I had certain expectations for my career. I expected happiness and fulfillment to come through piano teaching.

I hated playing the organ and fulling assumed that I would be miserable sitting on the organ bench Sunday after Sunday.
But it turned out that I found joy in using my musical training to praise God. My expectations for my career were not fulfilled, but my joy in God was.

Expectations.

Let’s throw them out. Let’s not assume our lives will go according to our plans. Life is unpredictable.

Let’s release the belief that happiness and joy are only available when our expectations are met.

Instead, let’s put our hope in God. Let’s expect that God has something wonderful for us just around the corner.

Next step: What expectations for your life have you been clinging to? Write a prayer giving them to God and praising Him that He has something wonderful planned for your life.

Spring Cleaning: Let’s Throw Out Comparison

Sharla April 3, 2018

Spring is here–at least according to the calendar. So it’s time to do a little spring cleaning.

For me, spring cleaning involves vacuuming under the furniture (It’s amazing how much dust can accumulate under beds and behind desks!) And doing jobs I tend to neglect. (The other day I hit a lampshade with the vacuum and the shade changed from gray to white!)

My spring cleaning ritual also involves sorting out my closet. It’s time to get out my spring and summer clothes and store the bulky winter items. Time to reassess my wardrobe and toss out the clothes that aren’t working for me anymore.

But let’s not stop with spring cleaning our homes and closets–let’s do a little spring cleaning of the heart. It’s time to toss out things we thought would fit us and make us feel good, but actually make us uncomfortable and miserable.

First on the list–comparison.

If Comparison 101 were offered as a college course, most of us women would have no trouble earning an A+ in that class.

We tend to compare our figures and our hair. We measure up our homes and decor. We look at our friends’ purses, cell phones, shoes, jewelry…and wonder if ours are as good.

But comparison rarely leads to anything positive. It may lead to pride if today’s comparison makes me feel a little better than someone else.

Or it may lead to feeling like a failure if in my current comparison I am not as thin or beautiful or successful or…

Comparison seems like a natural fit, but it always chafes and irritates our hearts. It’s time to throw it out.

Read God’s Word:

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:10

When I read that I hear God whispering:

Don’t compare yourself to others, because I purposely made you just as you are.

I put you together with careful craftsmanship and intentional quality.

Don’t second-guess Me and wonder why I didn’t make you more like “her.”

I love you exactly as you are.

It’s time to throw out comparison. Accept yourself as God’s workmanship.

Next step: Read the words of Psalm 139:10. Turn them into a prayer that you repeat whenever you’re tempted to compare yourself to someone else today.