Put away, Give away, Throw away

Many years ago, one of my sister-in-laws introduced our family to FlyLady.net The premise of the website is to help you get your house in order. They ask you one question, do you feel overwhelmed, overextended and overdrawn? If you answer yes, they can help.

When it comes to the clutter in your home, they have a motto, you need to ‘put away’, ‘give away’ and ‘throw away’ all the stacks and piles you have laying around. Take 15 minutes a day so it doesn’t overwhelm you. Before you know it, the clutter will be gone and your home will be a much nicer place to live.

This is something we do as often as possible. Through the years we collect a lot of stuff and never get around to deciding what to do with it. As we readied for the off season, we made a list of things we wanted to get done. One of the most significant items was to go through and get the house organized. This way we would be better prepared for the new season and it would greatly reduce the clutter. No area was spared, from the garage to the attic we applied the principle. The feeling of accomplishment was significant and it gave us the opportunity to bless a few folks along the way.

As it is in life, so it is with our spiritual walk. During my journey with our Lord I’ve had many experiences. Some of them good and worth holding on to. Some of them bad that need to be thrown away. Just like the junk in our homes, our soul can become cluttered causing all sorts of difficulties. This winter, while we purposed to clean up our home, I resolved to clear out my spiritual baggage.

I’ve ‘put away’ any preconceived ideas of how my life should look as a Christ follower. I’m ‘giving away’ more of who I am in Christ and I’m ‘throwing away’ any hurts or harms I’ve been caused by others. These 3 things are helping to renew my spirit. Paul tells us in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The new year presents an excellent opportunity for a fresh start. Is it time for a little physically and spiritually house cleaning in your life? If the answer is yes, then start today.

Blessings