Spiritual vs Physical Clutter

"Eliminate physical clutter.  More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter."  ~Terri Guillemets

As we embark on simplifying our lives...this is a three fold process. It not only involves eliminating physical clutter , or  "junk" as some may call it , but also eliminating spiritual and emotional clutter. 

This is a post and topic we could expand on, and will, but for now...I leave you (and me) with some thought provoking questions. 

What spiritual clutter might you need to "clean up" in your life? This could be in the form of sin that has not been either recognized or dealt with. I know that sometimes personally I do not even realize I am sinning until I spend time in prayer and ask God to reveal my sins to me. Then it's like the light bulb goes on...WOW ...I didn't realize I was doing that!  This clutter can also be in the form of unresolved conflicts and issues. We ALL have these , right? The nagging "oh yah, I should talk to that person about this and that" or the nagging reminder that someone is upset at you or you are upset with someone...I Have been spending devotional time reading about this very subject. At first, I felt that I had no unresolved issues or conflicts for once in my life. God quickly revealed that I was wrong. There are 2 that came up of course involving family. Don't they always! But, it's the kind that is a silent killer. You act happy and fine when you are around them and vise versa. But there is that silent tension..the things that aren't being said..yet..sort of are being said at the same time. Yah, familiar huh?  So many of these in our lives. If you are like me, you just kind of let it go and let it go..saying "well I am going to pray on that for a while" or " I will deal with that later" or "God will let me know when to deal with it " yet, here I am 2 years after the fact not dealing with the issue. It is never fun or easy to deal with conflict.  And if you are like me again, you avoid it at all costs! Well, God has revealed to me lately, that we really have to just kind of "man up" or grab some Godly courage and deal with it. Because it truly is spiritual AND emotional clutter. We may think we are fine, but it is there, lurking in  he background. The tension from it will come out in different ways and if left unresolved can cause issues later on spiritually and emotionally. I thank God for speaking to me about these things....but I must admit...I am not looking forward to it! I have to remember though, God is there with me and will give me His divine strength to get through it and say the right things. And most important...he will bless me (and you ) for obeying Him -cool! :) 

I want to share with you a verse that I came across today, that really has stood out and maybe you will find it helpful as well! 
  
Matthew 18 vs 15-17:
¹⁵ “If your brother or sister^[a] sins,^[b] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’^{[c] 17} If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector."

Wow! Isn't this just about the most simple, direct and awesome way to handle issues? Well, at least I think so :) It is amazing to me the times you can read a passage over and over and then one day it will stand out in a new light. I realize what I need to do. Now, if they don't listen to me....I can certainly bring another person along next time and try again. If they still don't listen..I am not sure I can take them to the Church, but I can take them to a Pastor with me...or call a pastor, have him come over and hang out with us and resolve it..or maybe seek Church counsel? A Godly mentor? If after that they still don't budge, well I am free to just kind of say "see ya" and treat them as an acquaintance , if that. I don't know how people in those days treated Pagans and Tax collectors..I would be interested to find out. But, I am sure they were not rude or mean in any way. Probably just chose to not associate much with them. 

I have some big steps ahead of me in dealing with some spiritual clutter. Both on a personal level with sin and on a level of conflict. I know that I can only do this with God's help! On my own I am a wimp and coward..it's true! Ask anyone who know's me...I run from conflict faster then you can blink! :) But that's ok, its' how I am and so I know that to deal with these cluttering issues I must lean only on God. And thankfully, I trust Him and know he will help me..so it makes me feel better :)

Are there spiritual and emotional cluttering issues in your life? If so, I pray for you too! Lets clean out the junk!!  It really will help on our journey to a simpler life :)

SimpleMom