“SEE, I’M DOING A NEW THING!”

I’ve been decluttering, which means it’s a new year! I don’t always get motivated to do it, but this year we got lucky.

Do you have a junk drawer in your kitchen? I’ve heard that everybody has one. Ours got cleaned out this week. I don’t know how it gets to the “junk” stage. Right now it’s organized, including little trays and boxes to hopefully keep it that way.

The process of dealing with the drawer reminded me that I need to examine my spiritual “junk drawer.” I hadn’t really thought of the fact that I have one, but decluttering physically led to this realization. For me, it’s thoughts and behaviors that occur repeatedly and need to be brought to my attention so that, with God’s help, I can “declutter” them!

What is in your spiritual “junk drawer?”

I know there is plenty in mine. I have discovered that journaling my thoughts gives me something concrete to look at that reminds me of areas I need to work on. It helps to see these challenges in writing and find scriptures that address them. If I don’t write them down, it’s easy to ignore them! Before I know it, my spiritual self needs decluttering again.

For example, I sometimes find myself thinking negatively. A verse that addresses this is Philippians 4:8 — “. . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praise-worthy, think about such things.”

Another example is that I have a tendency to be judgmental in my mind, even before I know the whole story! Here is a verse about it — “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2)

God can help us improve the challenging parts of our lives. He has even given us scriptures that remind us how powerful he is and that he can help us be more aligned with his spirit and purpose for our lives.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

We have a fresh start in a new year with God helping us begin with a clean slate and decluttered junk drawer.

Let him do a new thing in you!