Keeping Up With Life

If I did all the things I thought I should do -- Wow! I would never sleep. All the crafts I have in my head, relaxation things, movies to see, books to read, people to pray for alone would consume me, not to mention reading my Bible and my journaling, going to lunch with friends, dinner parties, sports event, laundry, cooking, cleaning, parenting, being a good wife, the list goes on and on ...

I think the older I get the more I see life in it's entirety. We go through seasons of life, not just one never ending day of life. It's okay to space things out. If I take all the things I want to do and push as hard as I can to accomplish them in this season, then I miss out on the experience of the thing I wanted to do - it becomes a task on my "to do" list and not a life experience. I tend to do that - push through to make it to the next day, stuff the things I can't get done or deal with in a closet. Instead of placing it where it goes the first time.

Remember those closets I was cleaning out?

I blogged about this several weeks ago. I finished five closets - now I think I need to move onto the dreaded (under the sink cabinets). Those are a little lower down and much more messy. Just to refresh your memory there were a few categories that I came up for my actual closets in my home and then God told me to apply those same categories to my mental closet. My mental closet is the places where I store my thoughts, emotions and feelings when I want to push through the day. Let's compare my real closets with my mental closets.

Here are the categories:

• Keep
• Throw Away
• Give Away
• Store it and/or Save it

These four areas had to be defined before I was willing to go on. Keeping something meant it had to be useful to our me or our family the majority or the year. Throwing it away meant it had no useful value to us or to anyone else in the future. It was just taking up space. Giving it Away meant that it did not fit the first two categories, but someone may be able to put it to good use. Then the all time favorite, Storing it or Saving it this meant it had to be valuable to our family in some sentimental or monetary way.

Okay, I have to confess I have been putting off the cleaning closet thing for a few weeks. I so enjoyed organizing and cleaning the closets once I got started. It was the getting started that wore me out. Although, I think I may have been working on my mental closet the most. I'm okay with that.

Now, I am sure it is time to go lower (deeper) and clean out under the sink in my bathroom and kitchen. Right at this moment I am making a face that says - yuck! I feel that means when I clean out these things that God is getting ready to take me a little deeper and clean out something deeper within my mental closet. So, to clean out those "underneath cabinet" I have to get on my hands and knees. That sounds harder to me... There is never growth without pain - or so I've heard.

I am dreading it! Why? I think it is because I get use to the dysfunction I am in and at least know what to expect. I should be sitting on pins and needles - excited about what God is going to do!!!!

Psalm 32:8-9
Is not the verse I was looking for, but this is the one God gave me today. I had to laugh out loud when I read it. It is so true! He is a God of humor too! Thanks GOD! AMEN

Psalm 32

8 Let me give you some good advice;
I'm looking you in the eye
and giving it to you straight:

9 "Don't be ornery like a horse or mule
that needs bit and bridle
to stay on track."