I started my spring cleaning this past weekend. During this manic phase of my housework, I take everything out of every closet and cabinet and drawer. The items I have decided to keep go back in some orderly fashion. The rest gets donated or thrown away.
It never ceases to amaze me how much 'stuff' I always manage to accumulate! I am not an avid shopper. Truthfully, I stay aways from malls as much as possible. I do a lot of my purchasing online, which helps keep the impulsivity factor at bay. There are no Point of Sale end caps when you're paying with Paypal. I also tend to be rather frugal. Frugal.. not cheap.. the difference being that I am willing to pay top dollar for a quality item that will enhance my life in some way. I always consider the trade off.
Other than my weekly trip to Walmart for groceries, I don't 'go shopping'. I know - the very thought of mall avoidance makes me anathema to many of my female friends....
So how it is that regardless of how frugal or conservative a shopper I have been, I always have stuff that needs to eliminated? I am looking forward to the day when money accumulates that quickly!
What it led me to think is how our minds are like those closets and cabinets. We accumulate stuff in our thought life that we don't need. Negative thoughts, anger, bitterness, worry, fear. Even though I try to be diligent and eliminate those things from my thoughts, they still take up residence. So I have determined that in addition to cleaning out the junk in my home, I will also clean out the junk in my thinking. I will examine what my mind ponders and only keep those thoughts that are positive and fruitful. Sounds easy doesn't it?
Have you ever started purging your closet and come across a dress that was once your favorite? It was expensive and you wore it often, but now it no longer fits you and is hopelessly dated. You haven't even worn it in four years. Yet, you decide to hold on to it because maybe someday you will lose the extra ten pounds, and hey! retro is in, isn't it? So instead of chucking it, you dust it off and put it back on the hanger.
Some of our thoughts are like that. We have become accustomed to having them. They may have once served a purpose. So we hold on to them. But they no longer fit our goals, and unless we shrink our goals, they never again will. They keep us bound to the past, and prevent us from pushing into the future. The longer we hold on to fruitless thinking, the harder it becomes to clear out the mind.
So I have determined to be ruthless in my spring cleaning. I will only keep those thoughts which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. (Philippians 4:8).
Let the sun shine and the creativity and love flow!
It never ceases to amaze me how much 'stuff' I always manage to accumulate! I am not an avid shopper. Truthfully, I stay aways from malls as much as possible. I do a lot of my purchasing online, which helps keep the impulsivity factor at bay. There are no Point of Sale end caps when you're paying with Paypal. I also tend to be rather frugal. Frugal.. not cheap.. the difference being that I am willing to pay top dollar for a quality item that will enhance my life in some way. I always consider the trade off.
Other than my weekly trip to Walmart for groceries, I don't 'go shopping'. I know - the very thought of mall avoidance makes me anathema to many of my female friends....
So how it is that regardless of how frugal or conservative a shopper I have been, I always have stuff that needs to eliminated? I am looking forward to the day when money accumulates that quickly!
What it led me to think is how our minds are like those closets and cabinets. We accumulate stuff in our thought life that we don't need. Negative thoughts, anger, bitterness, worry, fear. Even though I try to be diligent and eliminate those things from my thoughts, they still take up residence. So I have determined that in addition to cleaning out the junk in my home, I will also clean out the junk in my thinking. I will examine what my mind ponders and only keep those thoughts that are positive and fruitful. Sounds easy doesn't it?
Have you ever started purging your closet and come across a dress that was once your favorite? It was expensive and you wore it often, but now it no longer fits you and is hopelessly dated. You haven't even worn it in four years. Yet, you decide to hold on to it because maybe someday you will lose the extra ten pounds, and hey! retro is in, isn't it? So instead of chucking it, you dust it off and put it back on the hanger.
Some of our thoughts are like that. We have become accustomed to having them. They may have once served a purpose. So we hold on to them. But they no longer fit our goals, and unless we shrink our goals, they never again will. They keep us bound to the past, and prevent us from pushing into the future. The longer we hold on to fruitless thinking, the harder it becomes to clear out the mind.
So I have determined to be ruthless in my spring cleaning. I will only keep those thoughts which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. (Philippians 4:8).
Let the sun shine and the creativity and love flow!
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