It has been a blessing to watch as God has moved among us to lead us to the person that He has prepared to be the next pastor of Medford Friends Church. In the days to come, please continue praying for God’s blessing and work in the transition process and for His touch and blessing upon Jesse Davis as he looks forward to moving to Medford to serve as pastor.
Moving toward the completion of this process as I transition into retirement has forced me to get serious about cleaning out my office. Through the last 24 years I’ve given my office a thorough cleaning on several occasions, but it’s been nothing like I need to do now.
As I’ve gone through drawers and shelves, more than once I’ve found myself scratching my head and saying, “Why did I ever keep that?” I’m amazed at how many garbage bags of “important” stuff I’ve carted off to the dumpster without missing a single thing that I’ve thrown out.
This experience got me to thinking about the “important” stuff we allow to clutter our lives; stuff we allow to hang around, even store, even though it no longer has any use or relevance in our lives.
This can happen in our spiritual lives too. We allow our lives to become cluttered with stuff like sins and regrets from the past, worries in the present and fear of the future. We hold on to old dreams that God has not chosen to fulfill in our lives, anger over past hurts and the pain of past failures. If we aren’t careful we can clutter our lives with so much useless stuff that Jesus has no room to work in us or through us.
This month, take some time to take an inventory of the things that you have been hanging onto in your heart and life. As you examine each thing, invite the Lord to tell you what you can get rid of. As you find stuff that needs to be thrown out, take time to confess, forgive, learn the lessons, make the changes, receive healing and let go. I think that you will find that you are both blessed and relieved as the old clutter is cleaned out, making room for even more of what God wants to do in and through you.
God’s Grace and Peace,
Mark