[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Daily Thought for Thursday, May 26, 2016

[Paul Smith]

Hello and greetings to you from an abnormally warm Baltimore, at least 
it's that way compared to the normal high at this time of year.  I hope 
that you all are doing well today, by God's matchless grace and His 
providential care.

As promised yesterday, here is a similar type of article to the one you 
read then.  It was written by yet another Canadian author, Marianne 
Jones, and the title of her contribution is "Removing the Obstacles," 
rendered as follows:

I've always been a slob.  Somehow, the tidying gene was absent from my 
DNA.  This was always a source of frustration to my sister, who does 
have the gene and was forced to share a bedroom with me throughout 
adolescence.  My mother tried to nag the perhaps dormant gene into 
action, but it fell on deaf ears.  I just didn't care whether I 
selected my outfits from the closet or the floor, or I climbed into a 
made or unmade bed at night.

This didn't create too many problems for me when I had a family of my 
own.  My kids enjoyed a happy childhood, where they could make 
salt-clay sculptures and paper confetti to their hearts' delight 
without Mom pestering them about making a mess.  My husband, 
fortunately, was not a neat-freak himself, and since I was talented in 
the cooking department and managed to keep him supplied with clean 
socks, he counted his blessings.

So I was surprised one morning to have the distinct thought "remove the 
obstacles" echo in my mind as I contemplated the trail of objects 
blocking my way to the bedroom closet.  It was such a clear, 
authoritative thought that I obeyed.  More startling, however, was the 
sense that this was about more than housekeeping alone.

Depression and unrealized goals had been a way of life for me as long 
as I could remember.  As I began to contemplate the "obstacles" in my 
heart, I saw that accumulated resentments, fears, and distorted 
thoughts about God cluttered my interior world.  Pursuing the life I 
wanted, a life of optimism, joy, and fulfillment was going to require 
some major spiritual and emotional housecleaning.

Since that moment I have come to understand that there is a 
psychological and spiritual value to order and organization in my 
household. My cluttered home was a reflection of my cluttered, 
unfocused mind.  My home had been strewn with half-finished projects, 
half-red books, and half-cleaned rooms.  I was often tired, frustrated, 
and depressed, the result of starting things in the blaze of energy and 
optimism created by new beginnings, but lacking the self-discipline to 
complete them.

Finding tidiness a constant challenge, I asked a friend what her secret 
was.  She told me she put everything away immediately after using it.  
Everything? It sounded much too difficult and unattainable for me.  But 
I noticed that as I allowed a few objects to pile up, a few quickly 
became many.  The result was that I would feel defeated by the mountain 
of mess before I began.  Tidying my house as I went started to make some sense.

Tidying as I go spiritually is just as important.  It is essential for 
me that I release anger and unforgiveness daily.  If I ever entertain 
the least of these attitudes, my "house" becomes filled overnight with 
confusion, darkness, and a lot of other things that smell of something 
less attractive than the "sweet fragrance of Christ."

I used to fear that becoming tidy would be a joyless, exhausting grind 
of endless sweeping, straightening, and dusting.  In fact, 
perfectionism is one of the obstacles that I have cheerfully put out 
with the trash! It's not about the endless strain of trying to attain 
the unattainable; it's about making my environment easier and more fun 
for me to live in.

Jesus did away once and for all with the need of perfectionism when He 
died on the cross.  I don't need to beat myself up for failing to live 
up to some impossible standard.  But He does invite me to a freer, 
happier life where I no longer have to tolerate being defeated by a 
mountain of clutter in my path.  After all these years, housework--both 
internal and external--has become a joy!

And there you have Marianne's article which I trust was a blessing for 
you today.  Until tomorrow when, Lord willing another daily thought 
message and article will be posted, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last 
days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul