A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT "CLUTTER" (#3)

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Noting down wisdom from a book I am slowly savouring - "The Cup of My Life" by Joyce Rupp.  

This post (#3 of this series) is about clutter, the spiritual kind...


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(Below are thoughts taken from the book, some are exact words from the author, some are paraphrased by me....to serve as notes to be re-read and gems to be revisited.)

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PHYSICAL CLUTTER

Most of are constantly trying to get rid of physical clutter in our lives.  

"I just get my heaping basket of correspondence emptied and it's full again.  I finally clear off the top of my desk and the next week it is messier than it was ever.  I dust the house and put things away only to have to re-do it again soon afterwards.  It seems like there is always a stack of something waiting to be sorted and discarded."


INNER, SPIRITUAL CLUTTER

But not so many of us are aware that we have inner, spiritual clutter too.

Things like 
  • anxiety, 
  • resentment, 
  • harsh judgments,
  • self-pity 
  • mistrust 
  • negative thoughts, 
  • useless fears
  • worries
  • old wounding messages, 
  • the regrets, 
  • the have to's
  • the want to's
take up a lot of inner space.  These things bully us around and squeeze out the good things that are waiting for us.

And we so often live life leaving a trail of clutter and debris inside of ourselves.


ANYTHING CAN BE INNER CLUTTER

Anything can be inner clutter if it 
  • keeps us totally absorbed in ourselves and
  • we become unaware of what God is offering to us.

Even wonderful things such as success, knowledge, beauty, pleasure, wealth, exercise and health can become "clutter" when
  • we seek these things madly and at any cost, 
  • we are obsessed with having more, 
  • we clutch to them closely,
  • we put all our energy into preserving them.
Even prayer can become clutter if our spiritual practice becomes the focal point instead of our relationship with God.


WE DO NOT HAVE TO DISCARD THE GOOD THINGS

We do not have to discard the good things, but we need to keep them from taking over our inner life.


EMPTYING OUR CLUTTER TO MAKE ROOM FOR GOD AND FOR JOY

Clutter leaves us with very little room for God's agenda.  

We need to periodically identify, sort through and discard the clutter we have collected over a life time...
 
to regain the freedom and space that clutter had invaded our spirit, 

and to again feel the joy of a non-cluttered heart.


- END - 



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