When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready . . . The teacher will Disappear. Tao Te Ching
Greetings from the Midwest! For the past few years, I’ve felt like I was on a struggle bus. But today, I’m in a much better place—mentally and emotionally, spiritually I’m riding in an Uber! It’s clear to see the true and living God is showing His presence in my life.
I’m now moving forward with intention. I’ve started decluttering my space and surrounding myself with people who uplift me. Some are here by invitation, others have come into my life naturally through shared interests, and a few have intruded! Can you guess which ones I’ve firmly nudged towards the exit? While it’s not always easy to remove people from our lives, preparing ourselves mentally and emotionally for their absence is crucial. Now, let’s discuss my ongoing mission to help us eliminate clutter and embrace a more positive lifestyle.
Today, I’m tackling my book collection! I hadn’t realized just how many books I owned until I ran out of space on my shelf. I kept voicing my dilemma about parting with the ones I love. Surely, I can’t love every book on my shelves! In reality, I often fell in love with the titles without even knowing the content. My approach to selecting books mirrors how I used to choose boyfriends: I’d pick someone based on looks, only to discover later that he was a bad read—truly rotten to the core!
Now, I consider many qualities that make a good person great for me. Not that I’m looking for a partner, but just saying! And if my husband were to pass away, I won’t be replacing him with a human. Instead, I’m planning to get a dog and the best quilting machine available! Let’s pray!
PRAYER
Father God, thank you for your grace and mercies. Please give us clarity on how to declutter our homes and our lives. Amen
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve become addicted to YouTube. Yes, you’ve read correctly! I’m always surfing the following topics, homesteading, remodeling, how to make vanilla extract, genealogy and quilting. And as you know I should be cleaning and decluttering. I have one year to gather the fragments of my life before my husband, me and possibly my youngest son move to another part of Colorado.
But in the meantime, for some strange reason a channel keeps popping up on my feed as something I might enjoy. So! One day I decided to watch it after a title grabbed my attention. The video was of a husband and wife remodeling their [new to them] doublewide.
As I sat watching them install fake beams I concluded the wife was extremely annoying; therefore, I stayed clear of clicking on their channel. Well! In the wee hours of the morning guess what channel popped up for me to watch again! Yep! The annoying woman!
I gave her another chance! This time she did not disappoint! She was talking about decluttering her children’s bedroom, being an understanding mom, addressing her shortcomings and arriving at a junction where things work for her. But! The one thing she said that struck a chord with me mentally and emotionally was “no one wants to live in clutter.” Let’s pray!
PRAYER
Father God, no one wants to live in clutter. Yet, life happens. Clutter happens. And sometimes people find themselves living in conditions they would never live in otherwise. Help them to fix the problem that hinders them from becoming the person they are destined to become. Amen
When they were filled, he said unto his disciple, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
John 6:12 KJV
Learning to stay steadfast on your decluttering journey during times of uncertainty is truly hard. You’ll find yourself falling off the wagon many times when it comes to keeping your home neat and tidy. And, as a result you’ll wrestle with discouragement from time to time. But keep going! The prize you’ll win at the end of your decluttering journey is discovering the love of self.
Over the weekend I called a contentious cousin. Why? I don’t know! I guess I love punishing myself. If I say the sky is blue she will say it’s black. The funny thing about her is that she’s always talking smack about one of her sister’s she feels does the same to her. Yet, she treats me like her sister treats her as she feels she’s being positive. People like her is why I love the song by Michael Jackson “Man In The Mirror.” And I’m sure we all have one or two people in our circle that are negative and extremely delusional that their positive.
As I fought being overwhelmed I found my mindset was somewhat different. Instead of letting her put a damper on my good intentions and or zap me of my energy, I said to her, “Wow! You can’t hear me gasping for air trying to sort through items. I’m trying to figure out who gets what because it was meant for me to buy all this stuff to be a blessing to others. Yes, my home is overrun with stuff but I can be a blessing to others because of it!” [Silence]
So! If it takes you a day, days, a week, weeks and even months to sort through your clutter, then it takes you that long because healing starts over and over with everything you touch. Let’s pray!
PRAYER
Father God, thank you for the power of healing. Help us gather the fragments of our lives as we let go of things that we don’t use nor need. Let the things we give be a blessing to the new owners. Amen
P.S.
On Friday I started with cleaning my food pantry. I was able to salvage some items to keep and some I donated to a senior citizen complex but I had to throw a ton of canned goods away. I feel bad about having to put food in the trash when so many people go hungry but they are two years past their expiration date.
Failures and fears are the part of the journey we call life. Don’t let them stop you or derail you from your chose path.
Debasish Mridha
Photo by Julian Schultz
Well! Happy Friday! Yesterday, I was busy with other matters. It seems finding those spiders the other day [dead and alive] temporarily derailed me from my journey of decluttering. However the tasks I did accomplish were just as draining; yet, finding solutions to what seem to be unsolvable problems was emotionally freeing. So, I venture to write, I did work on removing clutter from my life but this time it was mental clutter. And! I say, emotional clutter is worse to manage than material clutter on any given day. Let’s pray!
PRAYER
Father God, keep us on task to free our wonderful lives from things that steal our joy. Amen
Black Women Have It Going On 