Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Christmas Reflection

Over the next two weeks I will be taking time off from writing the blog.  I want to give full attention to enjoying and loving on my family as we celebrate the birth of the Christ child and the hope that He gives us as we enter a New Year.  Upon my return, I will introduce you to CHG # 7.

As we adorn our homes with all the majesty and lighting of the Christmas season, I am reminded more than ever of how much we need to honor and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  I say this especially in light of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that took place this past Friday, where the lives of 20 precious elementary children and 6 adults were taken in Newtown, Connecticut.  What an example of the darkness and evil that constantly surrounds us and influences us, something we talked about in last Wednesday’s posting. The evil one is real, and he is known as the thief.  John 10:10 tells us that the thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy, but God’s purpose is to give a rich and satisfying life.  Last Friday, December 14, 2012, the thief came without warning and he made his way into a quaint hometown school.  The killer’s only intent was to steal, murder, and destroy.  Obviously, this killer did not know the rich and satisfying life that comes from personally knowing the Christ child, whose only purpose was to die and rise again so we could be saved from the evil one. 

I appreciate the reflection that comes from Grace Communion International and the commentary on John 10:10.  “Jesus' main purpose was the salvation (health) of the sheep, which he defined as free access to pasture and fullness of life. Under his protection and by his gift they can experience the best that life can offer. In the context of John's emphasis on eternal life, this statement takes on new significance. Jesus can give a whole new meaning to living because he provides full satisfaction and perfect guidance.”

We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ because He is the only One who takes away the clutter of our sinful way of living.  This Christmas, I pray that we make a pathway for Him to enter into our hearts so we learn to love more and fight less.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #6, Part Three

See Through My Stuff from the Inside Out and Follow Through
This past week I met up with a friend who I had not seen since last year, though we do periodically communicate with one another.  As we eased into our conversation, she made a comment that was very reminiscent of what she had said a year ago. “I always look forward to reading your blog every Wednesday,”  she said.  “It’s as though you know exactly what I am thinking and going through from one week to the next!  How can that be?”  First of all, I wanted to put to rest any fears that she might have had about me knowing any intimate details about her life. I also wanted to reassure her that I had no clue as to what she was dealing with but God does.  The fact that the blog speaks to my friend is such a great affirmation of the Holy Spirit being at work in our individual lives through the SW (Spirit Work).  The Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives, even though we can not see Him.  He is the One who wants to ultimately guide us through our “stuff”.  I get very excited when I witness God working in the lives of others as they seek a relationship with Him. There is no greater reward than to be used by God to point others into His loving arms. 

In recent posts, I have talked about two songs that are such great illustrations of the loving relationship that God wants with each one of us. One is from last week’s posting, When God Ran, and the other is the song called Mary’s Alabaster Box, from two weeks ago.  I never tire of hearing these two songs.  They are a constant reminder to me that I can not forget the way life used to be. I was a prisoner to the sin that had me bound. No one was with me the night that Jesus found me. No one knew what I felt when He wrapped His loving arms around me.  Yes, God ran to me.  He took me in His arms, held my head to His chest, and said, “My daughter has come home again!”  He lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes, and with forgiveness in His voice He said, “Do you know that I still love you?”

The past is one of the biggest clutter issues that I see people holding onto.  And many are totally unaware that their past is even enslaving them.  It is often a past that is rooted in fear:
False
Expectations
Appearing
Real

Fear often hides behind the mask of:
♥ Intimidation
♥ Panic
♥ Anxiety
♥ Nervousness
♥ Hopelessness

To get our healing in the present, God will take us to revisit our past.  Since He knows everything about us, He knows where He needs to take us and what He needs to give us in order to heal.
 
Regardless of what clutter category you chose to focus on, each clutter category is rooted in a spiritual component that is reflected in how we think.  We are born with the inherited imprint of sin.  The color black is symbolic of that sin, and as we become more and more familiar with the world that we live in, we see the darkness and evil that surrounds us and is constantly influencing us.  Consequently, when we are born into this dark and evil world, there is also the desire to fight rather than to love.  CHG # 6 is about cleaning out or decluttering our desire to fight, and replacing it with a desire to love.

In closing, we come to You Father, realizing how much easier and safer it feels to examine the faults of someone else.  Please guide us to go inside of ourselves and make an honest inventory of those areas that need to be changed.   We ask for Your help in putting on Your character of humility.  We need to receive what might not be very pleasant for us to see.  Break down those walls of pride and arrogance that we hide behind, so we can feel the outpouring of your love and the personal relationship that You desire to have with each one of us.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #6, Part Two

See Through My Stuff from the Inside Out and Follow Through

This past week, our SW was to ask the Lord to help us see what we have been blind to seeing, and to then ask Him how we could follow through by addressing that blindness.

One of the questions I was asked this week was, “How do I get organized and where do I even start?”  My one word response would be, “Empty.”  What does empty mean?  I will answer that question by applying CHGs #s 1-6.

CHG #1: Slow down and be still. 

This helps you to go inside of your head and empty out some of your thoughts so you can determine that one area that will give you the most satisfaction in being emptied out or decluttered.  What area will feel good for you to be working on?  

Here is a suggestion.  If storage areas like the basement, attic, garage, or closet are all cluttered up, then I suggest you start in one of those areas.  You need to create a potential “home” for the things you will eventually want to store from other areas. Much of the “stuff” in storage areas piles up and has no order because it is that place that collectively hides what we do not want to see and deal with.  It is also the “stuff” that piles up because you usually do not want to make a decision about it.  Storage areas are a great place to start with because much of the “stuff” gets emptied out as trash or donations. It’s a great feeling to cerate space as you see through your stuff from the inside out.  What has been pushed down on the inside now has the opportunity to come out!

Whatever area you start in, you need to have a pathway for your feet so as to avoid accidents.  So if the floor is all cluttered up you will need to empty the floor first.  This is then followed by counter tops.  When the floor and counter tops are clear you are ready to empty out those hidden storage areas, like closets, cupboards, or containers because you now have the space to empty and sort.  

CHG # 2 Love the Lord.

Acknowledge God’s presence in your life so you can include Him in this process of getting things emptied - decluttered.  He will guide your steps and help you to:

1. Gather your supplies – An assortment of bags is needed.  Heavy duty trash bags are inexpensive and hold a lot of “stuff” for transporting to the street as trash or to a donation center. Use plastic grocery bags for little parts that need containerized for donations.  Clear zip lock/slider bags are great for the smaller things that you want to keep and see. Sticky notes, sharpies, and tape are indispensible for labeling your bags as soon as they are filled. You do not want to mix up your categories.
2. Designate an area for trash, another for donations and one for keeps.  Label those areas so it is easy to see how and where “stuff” is to get sorted.  This is a broad example of getting things categorized. 
3. Stick with one activity at a time.  If you are sorting, then just sort.  If you are bagging, then just bag.  If you are labeling, then just label. You want to move around as little as possible, and follow through with completing one activity before moving on to the next one.    
4. Set a realistic time frame: Break down your time into small attainable time frames.  A good starting point is to establish a minimum time frame of 15 minutes to a maximum of 2 hours.  You want to nurture and encourage yourself by seeing the success you make with small steps. 

CHG # 3: Ask for help, ask questions, and pray.  

1. Feel free to ask me any kind of question that will help you to get organized.  I have a wealth of information and experience. 
2. If you need the assistance, support, or the physical presence of someone else, then ask for it.  One of the biggest draw backs to getting a task accomplished is that we do not delegate or ask others to help us.  This is especially the case at home with family members or at the work place with fellow employees.  Our self sufficient pride, control, and perfectionism, can create a great deal of our clutter. 
3. Ask the Lord to help you with the steps to take, like the ones mentioned above.  And ask Him to help you enjoy the process and learn from it.

CHG # 4 Love myself and others.

♥ To gather, means to come together in one direction.

♥ To scatter, means to go in many directions and be confused.

Follow through by moving in the direction that you said you were going to take.  You will prevent yourself and loved ones from being scattered here, there, and everywhere!

CHG # 5 Embrace change and set goals patiently.

Be patient with yourself as you go through the decluterring process of emptying out.  Avoid doing it in a hurry because haste truly does make waste for us at so many levels.

CHG # 6 See through your stuff from the inside out and follow through.

When you follow through with examples of applying these CHGs, you will conserve your space, time, energy, and money and know where to start.

To follow through means to complete what you start, and this means anything and everything:

♥ A thought

♥ An action

♥ A task or job

♥ Mean what you say and do it:

·         Make your “yes” yes.

·         Make your “no” no.

A lack of follow through often comes as the result of saying “yes” to too much.  Being a “yes” person is usually motivated by wanting to be a people pleaser.  Consequently, follow through often does not happen because there is too much on one’s plate.

This coming week let’s see how our SW will help us to be more cautious about what we say “yes” to and what we say “no” to. And from a spiritual perspective, if you have not  yet asked the Lord to come into your life, I pray that this be the time for you to say, “yes” to Him. May this also be the week that we stop procrastinating and commit to doing that job, task, or activity that we need to follow through with.  May you be richly blessed as you listen to this song that is all about God’s unconditional love for you and me.  It’s called, When God Ran by Phillips, Craig, and Dean.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #6, Part One

See Through My Stuff from the Inside Out and Follow Through

A we reflect on CHG # 6, See Through My Stuff from the Inside Out and Follow Through, think about what this CHG implies as being the root cause of my clutter?

1.  My clutter builds up when I cannot see the “stuff” that is inside my:

♥ Head

♥ Heart

♥ Piles

♥ Files

♥ Bags

♥ Containers

 

2.  My clutter builds up when I do not follow through with a task or do what I said or intended to do.

Therefore, when I see through my “stuff” from the inside out and follow through, I lessen my clutter and this brings healing to me.

The Scripture to support CHG # 6 is from Matthew 23:26, “…First wash the inside of the cup and then the outside will become clean too.” What does Matthew 23:26 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?

♥ My clutter builds up when my priority is outward focused rather than inward focused.

♥ My clutter builds up when my outward appearance is more important than what is inside.

♥ My clutter builds up when I focus on your “stuff” rather than my own “stuff.”

Therefore, when I address what is on the inside of my head and heart, I am in the process of being cleansed, and this lessens my clutter and brings healing to me.

If you open your Life Recovery Bible to Matthew 23:26, you will see that the first sentence to this verse only consists of two words.  They were spoken by Jesus when He said, “Blind Pharisees!"

Here is my word of caution:  we need to avoid making the mistake of thinking these words were just for the Pharisees, who were a religious sect of Judaism.  The Pharisees were so extremely devoted to God’s laws that they became blind to the heart and love of Jesus as their Messiah. 

When I look at these words from a personal perspective, I am challenged to remove my own blinders.  I need to address the truth about how I see myself: 

♥ Is my focus on how I want to appear or who I truly am? 

♥ Are my motives guided by pride or humility? 

♥ Do I say one thing but do another?  

♥ Do I walk my talk?

♥ Am I inclined to evaluate and correct the faults of others more than myself?

♥ Do I look full of life, but inside I am dying?

From the very beginning when I introduced you to Spirit Work (SW), we have been learning to wash the inside of our own cups as we have entertained the questions that related to our individual thoughts and feelings.

The concept of seeing through my stuff originally came out of my Home Touched organizing business.  It relates to how we begin to sort through our material “stuff” and establish a home by containerizing those possessions.    

♥ Clear containers or bags provide the simplicity to “see through” or into the container.

♥ Non clear containers or bags are used when it is not desirable or necessary to “see through” or into the container

"Seeing though my stuff " also developed out of my spiritual need to look inward.  It’s an uncomfortable feeling to admit that I need to be cleansed. I need God’s spiritual eyes to “see through” the “stuff” of my own denial.  Denial represents the darkness of what I do not want to look at or want to "see through."  CHG #6  is about going inward to make an honest inventory about myself.  It means that I will take off my blinders and come out of my hiding.  I will “see through” my sin, my denial, my greed, my self –indulgence, my finger pointing, and whatever else the Holy Spirit reveals about me.

Over the next few weeks I am going to encourage you to write to me and ask whatever questions you have about material clutter and how to organize it.  You can either comment at the bottom of this post or you can email me directly at colleen.flenner@gmail.com In the Clutter Healing Classes, it has been amazing to witness how few questions participants had about their material clutter.  When people make an honest attempt to put the CHG’s into practice, they find out that their material clutter gets resolved.  For those of you who struggle with material clutter I hope that happens for you.

This coming week, our SW is to ask the Lord to help us see what we have been blind to seeing, and then ask Him how we are to follow through with addressing that blindness.

The song called Mary’s Alabaster Box by Cece Winans is such a great example of someone who looked at her life from the inside out and followed through with making a change.  May it inspire you to do the same.   

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #5, Part Three

Embrace Change and Set Goals Patiently
As you addressed your specific clutter category this past week, did any of the symbols for CHG # 5, like the caution ribbon, a blinking yellow light, or the sunflower, remind you to embrace the change or set the goal that is needed so you can lessen your clutter and find healing?  What thoughts or feelings did the symbolism evoke in you?

Maybe the topic of confronting was more of an attention getter for you than the symbolism.  If so, how did it bring about change for you or influence you in your goal setting?  Perhaps God’s plans for you, based on Jeremiah 29:11, or the song called The Basics of Life, helped you to move from that mind set of hopelessness or disaster to a place of hope.  It can be so hard to give up behaviors that are not healthy for us because at least we know they are familiar and predictable.  And when we do attempt to make changes, we often try to reason our way out of those cluttered behaviors rather than praying about them.

As we wrap things up with CHG # 5, I want to reinforce how the word patience is very dependent upon us making a conscientious decision to slow ourselves down (CHG #1).  So I thought it might be helpful if I gave some examples of how our impatience increases our specific clutter categories, as represented in the MMESS PR acronym.  I will then give some suggestions on how to lessen that clutter:

♥ Mental - I change my mind so much that I get all caught up in the activity of change, consequently, nothing gets resolved.  I am exhausted, angry, and without peace.  So, I will patiently ask God for the plan that I need and learn to trust Him and His plan.

♥ Material - I am so overwhelmed by my stuff, and I am the one who has permitted it to come in.  So, I will patiently confront myself in learning how to say, “No thank you.”

♥ Emotional - I am always feeling dumped on and misused.  So, I will patiently nurture myself by withdrawing from people who disrespect me and take advantage of me.

♥ Situational - I can get obsessed with the busyness of everything – shopping, working, driving, and texting. So, I will patiently focus on doing one activity at a time and I will ask God to help me become more aware of the patterns that can weigh me down. 

♥ Spiritual - I am consistently thinking about and verbalizing my desire to no longer live.  So, I will patiently meditate on Jeremiah 29:11 and provide myself with the sleep and diet that will enhance my well being.  As long as God gives me breath, I need to believe that He has a purpose for my life. 

♥ Physical - I over consume all kinds of things and then I do not feel good physically, emotionally, or psychologically.  So, I will patiently consider the thoughts and feelings that drive me to indulge, and then harm me, and I will seek the support I need.

♥ Relational – I am always striving to be loved and accepted.  It is wearing me thin.  So, I will patiently remind myself that being worthy of love and acceptance is based on how God alone loves me, and not what I do or who I am.

Change is about growing and learning, and with change, growing and learning also takes place. We need to be ready mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically, and then we often need that information to be repeated and reviewed in order for change to actually happen.

If you have been committed to reading this teaching blog, then you have been in the process of changing, growing, and learning.  As you continue to change, grow, and learn, be patient with yourself.  It takes 31 days to establish a new habit and for it to become a part of you.  The Lord used the Book of Proverbs to teach me this.  Proverbs has 31 chapters and it is also known as the Book of Wisdom.  There is truly simplicity and wisdom in how God uses the Bible to teach us.  The 31 chapters in Proverbs symbolizes the 31 days it takes for us to develop a new habit. 

1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us that love is patient and kind.  Being patient is characteristic of love, so let’s practice being more patient with ourselves and with one another.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #5, Part Two

Embrace Change and Set Goals Patiently

It started it my mind, and then, without warning, it started leaking from my mouth!  It was an organized scenario that went something like this:

♥ Great, another hour of driving, not to mention all of the traffic, and now I get to figure out how to navigate myself through downtown Chicago and a parking garage that could service 6 huge hospitals!  
♥ Instead of taking one hour out of the month to see the doctor, I am going to have to take an entire day! 
♥ And oh gee, I also get to spend more money on gas and parking!

Suffice it to say, that as I voiced these uncensored comments to my daughter, her surprised response to my irritated tone made me keenly aware of how my thoughts and words were void of any kind of joy.  I was not embracing the changes that had to do with my health!  It was such a great example of the emotional clutter I can create for myself when I do not make the conscious decision to embrace the changes that come into my life.   Consequently, anger can subtly sneak in and become the ultimate emotion that robs me of my peace. 

Last week’s SW was focused on asking the Holy Spirit to help us determine what meaning the words embrace and change held for us as we looked at our individual clutter. And then we were to patiently consider the one goal or boundary that God wanted us to set for ourselves as we asked for His plan regarding our clutter issue.

Here is how it went for me as I recognized the need to renew my thinking by embracing the picture that I described above:

♥ When I slowed myself down to patiently think before I spoke another word, I realized just how blessed I was to be only an hour’s drive from Chicago and be connected with a doctor who possessed the wisdom that I needed and had asked God for as we addressed the rarity of my medical situation.  Yes, this is a huge change from what use to be a non hassled 10 minute drive for me, but this change is going to be so advantageous when it comes to the overall care of my health.   
♥ How cool  is it to have one day a month where I can see my doctor and be just one street away from Michigan Avenue where I can enjoy sightseeing, shopping, or eating out in downtown Chicago?
♥ What a deal it is to park in Chicago for up to seven hours at the hosptial garage with an out of pocket expense of only $10.00. 
♥ I am making it a goal to embrace the changes that involve my health by being patient with what takes place in my present life compared to my past, and enjoy the process.

The clutter of chores has been replaced by a move that focuses on family and health.  And as I have shared in previous postings, I know this move was clearly God’s plan for me .The details of God’s plan continues to be revealed to me and especially when I look at them in light of the Scripture that supports CHG # 5 in Jeremiah 29:11. I know that God has His plan for me and they are plans for my good and not my disaster, to give me a future and a hope.

Some of the symbols that God has consistently used with me to get my attention and remind me to apply CHG # 5 is the:

♥ Yellow and black caution ribbon - It warns me to be aware of the potential danger when I do not apply this guideline.
♥ Yellow caution light – It too warns me, but to continue moving forward and at a  slower speed.
♥ Sunflower – Have you ever noticed how the face of a sunflower eventually bows its head?  It helps me to remember how I often need to be humbled, especially of my pride.  When I put myself in that same position of bowing or kneeling down before God, I am saying that I also recognize the position that God has in my life.  There is no debate.  God will always see and know more than I will ever be capable of seeing or knowing.

Confronting – I address this theme in my teaching of CHG # 5 because confronting is hard for most of us to do, and it causes us to actually increase the clutter of our relationships. I like how confront is defined in Webster’s as a face to face, especially in a challenge, it is a meeting together.  We often make the erroneous assumption in our thinking that to confront means this will bring about conflict.  Consequently, this kind of thinking often stirs up the feeling of fear.  The greater conflict is in staying silent about something that could bring about a desirable change. I would like to challenge you to change your thinking about the word confront and the feeling that it stirs in you.  The prefix con actually means “with” or “together” so think of confront as a coming together face to face, with the intention to do it in love and not judgment.

Go back to thinking about CHG # 4 where you actually confronted yourself in learning how to nurture love with yourself and others.  It can be very challenging to come face to face with yourself in front of a mirror and to eventually believe that you are worthy of being loved.  But this is what will equip you to genuinely love others in the way God loves you.  All the previous CHG’S have been challenging you to first confront yourself before confronting another.

Your SW this week is to see if any of the above symbols get your attention about what you are needing to patiently embrace, change, and set as a goal, and then write down the thoughts that come to you as these symbols speak to you. 

I hope the following song called “The Basics of Life” by 4 Him will touch your heart and move you to consider where God wants to bring about change in your life. 

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #5, Part One

Embrace Change and Set Goals Patiently
I am thankful for this opportunity to again connect with you, and I can tell you that my time off was definitely embraced.  I was renewed, refreshed, and reenergized.  I do apologize for the extra two weeks that was taken off, due to my daughter, who is my blog editor.  She also took this guideline to heart and took some time off as well.

When the Lord originally put this verb embrace on my heart, in terms of how to approach change, I found it very challenging at that time, and I still do now.  When I am facing any kind of change, whether it is welcomed or unwelcomed, I have to repetitively tell myself to embrace it, because that change for me is usually a change from my anticipated routine.  For me to embrace change, it implies that I wrap my arms around it and accept it. I embraced this past vacation with opened arms, but to embrace all the packing and the scheduling that it involved?  That was very hard for me to embrace, but I did it by not getting myself all worked up and out of sorts.  It has never helped me to do that so why do it?  How did I embrace the change of breaking my ankle this past summer? I did it one day at a time, (CHG #1 slow down), and it meant that I was constantly praying and asking God to help me focus on the good that He would bring out of my being physically broken (CHG #3).  God’s goodness certainly did come my way.  The broken ankle was instrumental in getting me to sell my home.  Consequently, the clutter of house chores was lessened (my clutter category was situational and the sign/symptom was house chores).  I ended up moving into a condo, and I love that there are no outdoor chores.  And for the first time, I am writing this blog from that new condo which is only 15 minutes away from my daughter, son in law, and two precious grandchildren, who use to be 5 hours away!   What blessings have come from a temporary brokenness!

As we look at our individual circumstances, how do we find ourselves truly embracing change, especially if the change is about a loss due to health, death, income, or a relationship? And today, with it being the day after our presidential election, it is a perfect example of how some are embracing the results and others are ranting and raving.  Based on CHG # 5, God is telling us that our personal clutter will lessen if we choose to embrace whatever comes our way.  And guess what?  As we apply any of the CHGs to our personal lives it will have a ripple effect on our family, our communities, and our nation.

The added dimension of embracing change has to do with patience.  I am forever struggling to be patient as I listen to the talk that can go on inside of my head saying, “I wanted it to happen now, yesterday, a week ago, a year ago, or 20 years ago!  Once again, I have to remind myself to slow down (CHG #1).  And when I do that, it causes me to slow down my thinking and say this instead, “The timing is not in my hands. It is in God’s.”  This kind of thinking helps me to let go of trying to make things happen that are not within my power or time frame.  I need to wait on God’s movement and His timing.    

So, CHG # 5 tells me to Embrace Change and Set Goals Patiently.
What does CHG # 5 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?

♥ My clutter builds up when I do not embrace change.

♥ My clutter builds up when I do not embrace change with patience.

♥ My clutter builds up when I do not set goals.

♥ My clutter builds up when I do not set goals with patience.

Therefore, when I embrace change and set goals patiently, I lessen my clutter and this brings healing to me.

When I think about setting goals, they represent the end result that I hope to see.  Sometimes I think of goals as boundaries that reflect what I need to hold on to and what I need to let go of.  Goals help us to embrace change and help us in planning, projecting, and having direction.  And once again, we are being reminded to be patient even in setting them.  This also means that we need to be patient with the actual outcome, because there are times when the outcome differs from the goal that was set.

I encourage you to write down your goals.  Writing them down becomes a reinforcement to reach them.  Seeing your goals on paper is a reminder to move in a forward direction, remembering that the timing and outcome is in God’s hands.

The Scripture to support CHG # 5 is from Jeremiah 29:11 “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.  ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ ”

What does Jeremiah 29:11 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?

♥ My clutter builds up when the plans I have for myself are not God’s but mine

♥ My clutter builds up when the plans I have made are not for my good and bring disaster

♥ My clutter builds up when I perceive no future or hope

Therefore, when I let go of my plans that can be disastrous, and embrace the plans that God has for me that give me a future and hope, I lessen my clutter and this brings healing to me.

Did you notice in this Scripture Who does know the plans for you?  “I” does not stand for me or for you.  God is the “I” who knows the plans, and it is never God’s plan for us to miss out on His goodness or to experience disaster.  Disaster is what you and I create when we go our way.  God’s way gives us a plan for the future and for hope!

This week’s SW is to ask the Holy Spirit to help you in determining what meaning the words embrace and change hold for you in your life as you reflect on your own clutter category.  And then, patiently consider the one goal or boundary that God wants you to set for yourself as you ask for His plan regarding your clutter issue.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #4, Part Three

Love Myself and Others
Over the next month I will not be writing for the blog.  I will be vacationing, relaxing, and enjoying the plans that my family and I have been making over the past two years! So, as we conclude with CHG # 4, I want to leave you with some SW questions to ponder upon.  I would like you to consider some common possible traps that maybe have had an impact on how you have loved yourself and others.

1.  Has the trap been about “people pleasing” and saying “yes” over and over so as to feel loved and accepted?
2.  Has the trap been anger because your “people pleasing” has backfired on you, and it now causes you to feel resentful because you said “yes” so much?
3.  Has the trap been a need to control, where you think that it has to be your way or the highway in order to feel important?
4.  Has the trap been unworthiness where you see yourself as a mess and you question who could ever love you? 
5.  Has the trap been of perfectionism where you tell yourself, “If I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all?” 6.  Has the trap been about self righteousness so that you see yourself as being better or more “godly” than someone else?

Here is how I want to respond to these questions of entrapment.  God loves us and He wants us to love ourselves and each other.  God’s heart and love is mirrored in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus died to save you from you, from Satan, and from the clutter of your sins.  When you ask Jesus in to your heart, you are made clean, right, and justified from your sin through Jesus Christ and Him only.  It is not dependent upon how good you are or all the good you have done or will do.  You are declared not guilty through Christ. You come to the end of focusing on yourself and you begin to put your focus on God. When you love Jesus and obey God you are reflecting Jesus, His righteousness, His light and His love. Our example turns many to Christ and that results in others being righteous through Christ as well.
 
There is a big differentiation between the righteousness of God and self righteousness.  Self righteousness is void of love.  It is all about me and my agenda.  The focus is on the law verses the love.  Look at the Pharisees who were full of zeal.  The problem was that their zeal was about religiosity and not relationship. Do you want religion or do you want a relationship with God?

Remember when I suggested that you cut out a red heart and then write on it the message of love that God wanted you to hear?  Do you recall what yours said?  If you don’t remember, then go back and look at it.  Put it on display for your eyes to see so that your heart can absorb its full meaning.

Years ago, when I was on one of my walks praying about all the different relationships in my life this acronym came to me:
S
H
E

It is reflective of what you need to ask yourself and answer in regards to your relationships being less cluttered. 
Is it SAFE?
Is it HEALTHY?
Is it EDIFYING?

Am I being safe, healthy, and edifying in what I am doing to myself or with myself? 
Am I being safe, healthy, and edifying in what I am doing to others or with others?
Are my relationships or circumstances safe, healthy, and edifying? 

How often we have thought that lust was love or looked for love in all the wrong places.

Many of you have not had relationships that were safe, healthy or edifying.  It has not been safe because you have not been protected, you were put in harm’s way, or there was no sense of boundaries.  It has not been healthy because your well being has been compromised at every level.  It has not been edifying because you have been put down so much that you have lacked a sense of value and worth.

Some of you have been abused, wounded, broken, and destroyed for so long that you believe you deserve to be abused, wounded, broken, and destroyed.  Someone else may have done these things to you, and now you believe that you must do them to yourself.  This kind of thinking is a lie!  God wants to replace that lie with the truth of His Word.  He wants to give you a new way to love yourself and others.

I want to close with these words from 1Corinthians 13:4.

“Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way.  Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never looses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
             
This Scripture is filled with God’s wisdom about loving me and others. You could literally spend days, weeks, and months reflecting and meditating on just this one Scripture.  During the next month, speak this Scripture over and over to yourself and see how God lovingly sheds His light on your hidden story so that you can experience His healing, hope, love, and truth.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #4, Part Two

Love Myself and Others
How would you describe what took place inside of you this past week as you focused on letting go of the condemning thoughts and memories that you have been holding onto, and then replaced them with the heart message of love that God spoke to you through His Word and Holy Spirit?

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”  This Scripture from John 15:12 kept echoing into my ears all week, especially when I wanted to lash out at the lack of  follow though with a number of service people, or when someone saw their way to be better than my way! It can be very challenging to apply CHG #1, which tells me to slow down.  For me, this often means to slow down enough to still the words that want to come out of my mouth, so that I can move to CHG # 4 and tell myself to love and speak to others the way I appreciate being spoken to, particularly in the heat of the moment.  In other words, love those who irritate you in the same way that you love those who are easy to love, and love them in the same way that God has demonstrated His love for me.

When I asked the Lord for the heart message of love that He wanted me to hear, I heard these simple words, “You are a star of wisdom.”  God was taking the Scripture reference that I shared with you from last week in Daniel 12:3 and he was affirming the kind of star He had created me to be.  Wisdom comes from the Lord, and the only way I can be that star of wisdom is because I seek the Lord’s face.  Upon hearing this message, I was taken back to August 2010 and the memories that were connected to God planting that seed of wisdom that would bear fruit in August 2011 and would become this blog – Red Wednesday’s Wisdom.  I recently got an e-mail response to the blog posting from a friend.  It read, “You are a star.  You turn others to righteousness.”  I was humbled by the love of God and Him using my friend to speak the same heart message that He had given me.  Our God is a God of reinforcement.

Yesterday I was driving down interstate 65 South and listening to the words of a song that I had not heard before.  I was moved by this one refrain, “Father, give me the grace to forgive them.”  At the same time, I looked up towards an over pass.  In the middle of this over pass was a man boldly and proudly waving our American flag from a flag pole.  It was 9/11.  To hear this refrain and then see this visual was such a tribute to what happened 11 years ago on September 11th, and here was the heart message that God wanted reinforced,  Love your neighbor.  Your neighbor is anyone outside of you, including those who attacked the United States.  I lessen the clutter of anger, bitterness, hatred, and revenge when I do not condemn but love.  Oh my, how hard that is.   Forgiveness.  This message of forgiveness is so important, that even as I am typing these words for the blog, the same song I just mentioned above just came on the radio!   I now know that it is called “Losing” by Tenth Avenue North.  I am just in awe of our Lord’s presence in everything.  These lyrics just blow me away as I think about that man on the bridge and it being 9/11 and how God orchestrated all of this for me to share with you, and all of it in relation to loving and yes, even loving when we need to forgive!  I am honored. 

Your SW this week?  Reflect on this song, 9/11, our flag, and the recent loss this week for our country with the death of three Americans and our Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.

Losing - Tenth Avenue North

I can't believe what she said

I can't believe what he did

Oh, don't they know it's wrong
Don't they know it's wrong
Maybe there's something I missed
But how could they treat me like this
It's wearing out my heart
The way they disregard

This is love or this is hate
We all have a choice to make

Oh, Father won't You forgive them
They don't know what they've been doin'
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losin'

Well it's only the dead that can live
But still I wrestle with this
To lose the pain that's mine
Seventy times seven times
Lord it doesn't feel right
For me to turn a blind eye
Though I guess it's not that much
When I think of what You've done

This is love or this is hate
We gotta choice to make

Oh Father won't You forgive them
They don't know what they've been doin'
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losin'

Why do we think that hate's gonna change their heart
We're up in arms over wars that don't need to be fought
Pride wont let us lay our weapons on the ground
We build our bridges up but it's just to burn them down
We think pain is own apologies and get them to stop
Well truth be told it doesn't matter if they're sorry or not
Cause freedom comes when we surrender to the sound
Of mercy and Your grace, Father, send Your angels down

Oh Father won't you forgive them
They don't know what they've been doin'
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losin'
I feel like I've been losing

Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losin'
I feel like I've been losing

Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losin'

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #4, Part One

Love Myself and Others
Our SW from last week was to review the one seed that each of us wanted to plant and focus on (Hope, Love, Truth, or Healing) and to look at the personal Scripture that went along with planting that seed.  We were to then look up our Scripture in the Bible so we could take in some of the others verses that came before and after our one verse.  Healing was the seed that I planted, and the Scripture that has helped me to grow this seed of healing into my life is Jeremiah 29:11.  Jeremiah tells me that God knows the plans He has for me, and they are plans that give me a hope and future.  When I went to my Bible to see some of the verses that surrounded Jeremiah 29:11, I was reminded that through Jeremiah, the prophet, God had spoken these words to the Israelites when they were in Babylonian exile for 70 years!  I can only imagine the encouragement that these words gave the Israelites who had been taken out of their homeland of Jerusalem.  I have not been exiled, but I have been moved, and in that move I have already seen the future and hope that God has provided me with.  I am surrounded by the love of my family, and I am feeling less cluttered by the demands of home ownership.  I am living with greater simplicity because I have less.

What story came to life for you as you reviewed your SW with respect to CHG# 3?

CHG # 4 tells me to love myself and others.

What does CHG # 4 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?

♥ My clutter builds up when I do not love myself.
♥ My clutter builds up when I do not love others.

Therefore, when I learn to love myself and others I lessen my clutter and this brings healing to me.

The Scripture to support CHG # 4 is from Matthew: 22:39, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
  
What does Matthew 22:39 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?  It reinforces that my clutter builds up when I do not love myself and do not love my neighbor, in otherwords, do not love others.  Therefore, when I love myself and others according to God’s Word, I lessen my clutter and this brings healing to me.

CHG # 4 is very dependent upon CHG # 2, which tells us to love the Lord.   We learn to love ourselves and eachother by learning how God loves us and calls us to love Him. 

It is through God’s Word that we learn to love the way God created us and intended us to love.  In my desire to love God’s way, I am constantly asking Him to heal the clutter of how I have loved with wrong thinking and wrong actions and to love through His eyes rather than mine.   I actually feel God’s intimate love and presence when I hear what He has to say and how He sees me in Daniel 12:3.  God sees me as wise and a bright light in the sky and then He tells me that because I turn others to righteousness I will shine like a star forever. My bright light will help others to see the light of God!

We live in a world that focuses on entertainment and wants to cut throat.  It is a world that craves for individual stardom and does not understand why we are here on this earth.  We are here on this earth to love!  We are born out of God’s love for us and our clutter will be lessened when learn to love ourselves and others through God’s eyes and not man’s eyes. In God’s kingdom we all can become stars. We are His stars forever.

This week’s SW is about you learning to see yourself the way God sees you, not with condemnation but with love.  Cut out a red heart for yourself and then apply CHG # 3 by asking God to speak His message of love to you.  Write down that message on your heart and be touched by the Spirit of God’s love.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #3, Part Three

Ask for Help, Ask Question, and Pray
I had hoped to write last week, but with packing up the moving truck, cleaning the house, and then driving five hours, all done in one day, and then unloading the truck at two different locations, the following day, I am sure you can appreciate why I did some reprioritizing.  Consequently, I took a very much needed break from doing the blog.  And I can tell you that within two days I felt planted, settled, and at peace in my new place!

Looking back over the past two weeks and thinking about the SW that related to Jesus knocking at our doors, I can say with certainty that the only way this entire moving process took place so quickly for me within less than 2 months and with a broken ankle, is because of the decision I made 18 years ago to open my door to asking Jesus to come into my heart and life.  And as I share this with you, I have to mention that I was taken back to CHG #2, which tells me that my clutter will lessen as a result of loving the Lord.  One of the symbols that the Lord has consistently used with me in regards to CHG # 2 is a cluster of green grapes along with these words from John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  Those who remain in me will produce much fruit.  For apart from me you can do nothing.”  I know that the only way I was able to do what I did with the selling of my home and the move, was because of my dependence and connection to Jesus as that vine who feeds me and gives me the power and strength I would never have had on my own.
 
Even though our focus has been on CHG # 3, I hope that by expressing this thought with you about CHG # 2, you will begin to see how the CHG’S have been separated out, one by one, for simplicity’s sake, but in reality they are intricately intertwined with one another.

Your SW from the last posting also had to do with taking time to consider what God looks like to you as your Father.  I know there are so many of you who have had a very difficult time with thinking of God as your Father because of the memories you have had of your earthly fathers who were not devoted, loving, caring, and present in your lives.  This is relational clutter that is very common, and I can assure you that if you ask the Lord to bring you the insight and healing that you need with respect to your earthly father, you will discover the devotion, love, care and compassion that God has for you as your Heavenly Father, Daddy, or Papa.

In my teaching I have recommended the Life Recovery Bible, but regardless of which Bible you choose to use, going to God’s Word is where you will find the help, insight, healing, and guidance that God has for you about anything that is cluttering your life.  God’s Word is a collection of written love letters and prayers that are just for you.   

God’s Word is a 24/7 telecommunication prayer line:  You pick up the phone.  You make the call.  You ask a question.  You get an answer. You make a connection. You now have a direct and intimate communication line to God.  God is never too busy to answer your call.  There is never a message that says I can not talk right now.  God will always answer your call. God will always have something to share with you.

So as we draw to a conclusion with CHG # 3, I want to emphasize how simplified, organized, and nurturing your lives will become when you:

♥ Keep on asking the Lord for His direction so you know the path He wants you to take.
♥ Keep on looking to Him so you know what it is He wants you to see.
♥ Keep on knocking till the door He wants opened for you opens. 

Your SW this week is to review the seed you wanted to plant and your personal Scripture that goes along with that seed.  Look at them in relationship to CHG # 3 and see how they are speaking to you.  Go to your Bible and look up your personal Scripture to see what added insights you gain as you see the other verses that surround the verse you have chosen.

Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #3, Part Two

Ask for Help, Ask Questions, and Pray
In this past week, I am certainly much more aware of the questions that I have had to ask and the help that I have needed and requested.  As I prepare to move out of state next, after living in Cincinnati for 41 years, I am realizing just how much I have had to apply CHG # 3, when it comes to asking questions and asking for help.
 
One example of this has been with my email address.  Until the end of last week, it never occurred to me that my email address would have to change since it goes through a local server.   Consequently, all kinds of questions began to run through my head.  How do I get a new address?  How do I get the address book transferred?  How do I get all the information downloaded to my Blackberry? Talk about the questions themselves that can cause you to feel overwhelmed because they build up or pile up.  But as those questions were bombarding me, I had to constantly “fight” them off by telling my self to slow down so that I could address each question one at a time.  To do this it meant that I had to ask the bigger question of who could help me and guide me through each question that I had.  Some of the questions were answered by the help of my local phone company, while others were through friends and family.  The bottom line became this, no matter what starts to build up or pile up in my life, I am always being called to slow down so that I can break down the pile up into the smaller steps.  That slowing down is critical to not getting overwhelmed and out of balance, and the only way I could slow myself down enough was to be in constant prayer with God.   I was constantly asking Him, “How do I address this question?  Who do I need for You to put on my heart so I can ask them for help?   Ultimately it is God Who guides me and directs me in knowing what I need to ask and who I need to call.

There have been many phone calls to make in the midst of all the packing - technical support, utilities, insurance, postal service, finances, calendar scheduling, the list goes on. But here is the one thing that I have consistently heard from the people I have spoken to, “You are covered.” Or, “I think I found a simple solution for you!”  This entire move has been an example of God’s grace, light, and safety in my life.

Growing up, I always admired this picture shown above that hung on the dining room wall of my Grandparent’s home.  It adorned our family gatherings.  My Mother inherited it and eventually she passed it on to me.  I have carefully wrapped it up so that it attends me in my move.  The picture is titled, Christ at Heart’s Door, and the artist is Warner Sallman. It is such a beautiful depiction of how God tells us in Luke 11:9 (the Scripture that backs up CHG # 3) to keep on knocking and the door will be opened.  That is exactly what Jesus does with each one of us.  He keeps on knocking, and knocking, and knocking, hoping that we will answer His call and open the door to let Him into our hearts and into our lives.

People said to me this morning, “I can not believe that you are doing the blog since your move is happening in just days!”  Here is why I am doing it.  In my quiet time, I asked the Lord if I was to do it.  In my spirit I heard, “Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.”  This is from what is called The Lord’s Prayer or The Our Father.  It is the prayer that Jesus prayed when the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray.  Since CHG # 3 is about prayer, I knew I was being lead to do the blog today.  Here is the other affirmation that I just received as I am writing this post to you.  I was on the phone with my daughter, and I was in shock at what I read in front of me.  I Googled the title of the artwork mentioned above, and one of the "random" sites that I was brought to had an image of the painting and then below it was the editor’s note. It said that the picture was in a “1994 exhibition catalogued by Dr. David Morgan, Department of Art, Valparaiso University.”  I am moving to Valparaiso, and until my daughter moved there, I had never even heard of this town! This made it even more clear to me that the Lord’s will was on my move to Valparaiso and that I was also to be indeed writing for the blog this morning, all because I first asked the Lord in prayer what He wanted. It brought me to tears.

Reading this editor’s note, took me back to another story to share with you about my new home town of Valparaiso.  During my home inspection, the oven was making a very loud noise when it was turned on.  We discovered that the fan needed to be replaced.  When my daughter looked for the model number on the old fan, in tiny, barely readable letters, it said “made in Valparaiso, IN!”  I have lived in this home for 16 years never knowing that God’s  handprint was on my oven fan to tell me that someday I would move to Valparaiso.  That someday has arrived. I have learned that sometimes God is silent and sometimes He makes a lot of noise. And when asking Him first about what we should be doing with our lives; where does He want us to be living, what jobs does He want us to be employed in, etc., He answers, and sometimes in what we would call unusual or funny ways, even by using an oven fan!

This week, see how the Holy Spirit speaks to you through your SW.  What does He want to tell you about His Son, Jesus, who is knocking at your door?   If you examine the picture, you will note that there is no door knob on the outside of the door.  It is only on the inside, the inside of you.  It is up to you to decide if you will let Jesus in.  He will not force Himself upon you.  It is your choice.  This week, I ask you to reflect on The Lord’s Prayer and consider what it means to think of God as your Father.  He is the God of simplicity and order and there is a pattern to everything He touches and weaves.