“Anything that comes before God in our lives threatens not just our space and our schedule but our very souls.”
Courtney Elli
Clutter robs me of peace, weighs me down, and holds me back. It causes stress and prevents productivity. I easily become overwhelmed and discouraged when I’ve let things pile up and haven’t put them away. One solution to clutter is to get rid of things, find a home for everything, and simplify my schedule. But how do we declutter our hearts when they experience unrest?
A few months ago, the Holy Spirit gently shined His light and convicted me of the clutter within my heart from an offense. This is what He shared with me: “Deal with your heart, my daughter. Don’t let another day go by, for each day you let the hurt remain, it grows and festers like an infection that brings you great harm and widens the breach in your relationship. The enemy doesn’t like the closeness that you have with them, so he’s attacking and putting a wedge in it, causing division. Do not allow Satan to do this. Fight for intimacy and a healthy relationship by taking care of your heart by forgiving them and thanking Me for this hurt. Then let it go.” Forgiving the offender of the hurt was my ticket to ridding my heart of the clutter and chaos and restoring peace back to my soul.
Guilt from sin can also clutter our hearts and the best way to resolve that is through confession and repentance. Letting go of sin and turning back to God and allowing Him to run our lives releases us from the separation in our relationship with God. Loss and disappointment from unmet expectations cause disorder within our hearts and grieving is our way to unclutter them. Identifying the lies we believe that cause us pain and paralysis begins the process of reinstating peacefulness in our hearts as we choose to ruminate on God’s truth instead.
1 Corinthians 14:33a says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” Becoming uncluttered and ridding ourselves of disorder is not just for our environments and schedules. Decluttering our hearts from painful emotions and replacing them with God’s order and peace, brings us freedom. Take some time at the beginning of this new year to unclutter your heart.
“Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing.”
Eugene Peterson
Relevant Reflection:
What heart attitude do you need to rid yourself of to restore peace and order to your soul?
Image by Bill Kasman from Pixabay
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