Monday, November 10, 2008

Taking Out The Trash

Happy Monday! If you have linked over to my blog from the Proverbs 31 daily online devotional, then welcome friend!! And welcome back to all of my regular friends as well! I hope you will enjoy todays post and come back again to visit - and it would be even greater if you sign up as a subscriber! I would love to partner with you in focusing on Gods messages in our lives each day and getting to know you!

In keeping with todays topic of messiness, Ill take a moment to tell you about another type of messy frustration we tend to experience around my house.

Unfortunately I live in a county which does not require a leash law. At any given time, various breeds of dogs, some friendly and some not so friendly, are roaming freely around the neighborhood. They frolic and play during the day, and venture into the forbidden mysteries at night. Forbidden mysteries for dogs include important places like backyards, wood sheds, and the ever so delightful special dog treasures – trash.

Countless mornings I have walked outside to find an array of memories scattered throughout our yard – memories such as last week’s dinner leftovers, old magazines and empty toilet paper rolls. What we consider trash, the dogs consider treasures! Needless to say, I am not thanking God for dogs during these moments, instead I am hoping to locate the culprit and smack him with the broom. Then I begin to blame myself, because if I had not let the trash overflow to begin with, this big mess would have never even been available for nightly scavengers to find.

Have you ever considered that situations in our lives are often just like that scattered trash? During difficult periods of life, we allow trash to build up inside of us, such as unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, resentment, frustration, and jealousy. We allow last week’s problems or pain from childhood experiences, to scatter all over our hearts and make for a big mess. As a result, this “trash” in our soul, not only invades our heart, but overflows into our life. It not only affects us, but it has an impact on the people we come in contact with.

There have been days in my life, where I knew I was scattering my “trash” around to everyone around me. I fussed at my husband for not doing household chores (like taking out the trash!), I complained to my friend about my problems; I was impatient with my children. The trash in my heart was affecting others, my own heart and my relationship with Christ. Scripture tells us to confess our sins daily, to spend time in God’s word, and to treat and love others as we would want to be treated and loved. When our hearts are full of this soulful trash, we are not loving ourselves, therefore we are incapable of whole-heartedly loving others and our relationship with Christ is hindered as a result.

Whatever is in our heart, will eventually overflow into our life, and be displayed through our words and actions. I don’t know about you, but if I am going to scatter something all around me and my home for all to see, I certainly would prefer that it be love and kindness, than trash from my heart. Do you think it might be time for you to take out the trash?


“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 (NIV)

Taking Out The TrashSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

10 comments:

JottinMama said...

Thanks so much for the devotional and blog post this morning!

It just happens to be that I have a lot of house cleaning, heart cleaning, and "trash" to take out today. :)

Thanks for the encouragement. Have a wonderful Monday! :)

Many Blessings,
Kate :)

Amy Carroll said...

God is so sweet! I loved to hear how He provided this post on a busy day, and it's wonderful. I've got a day of writing ahead, but I'm going to pause for some heart inspection time first. I'll be praying for you this week.

Hugs,
Amy

missionnurse said...

missionnurse said...

Thank you for the devotional and blog post this morning!

Due to my hectic schedule these past weeks, I have a lot of house cleaning and trash to take out today. I just feel so bogged down because of this mess.

Thank you for the encouragement and have a wonderful day.

God Bless,
Dianne

Bonita said...

Tracie, Both your devotion and your blog spoke to me this morning. I've been so busy lately and my house shows it, but this weekend I took a couple of days out of my busy schedule to declutter and clean. I felt so much better and lighthearted. Only one major area didn't get a decluttering and guess what it was. My closet, of course! Your devotion reminded me that while I've done some decluttering in both my house and my heart, I still have some untidy spots to work on.

I can also relate to the dogs. I thought we had leash laws, but we sure have an abundance of dogs roaming our neighborhood. Once on trash pick up day I saw a dog that had broken off his dog run with his leash still attached to his collar and he was standing inside my neighbor's trash can digging at something. I have no idea how he got up that high, but whatever he was after must have been worth the leap.

Jenny said...

God is just so absolutely AMAZING! Thank you for listening to Him and nudging us to look at our hearts. This message was so meant for me this morning! :) Jenny

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Thank you! Your devotion on both sites spoke to me. They are keepers in which I will save and reread as needed...possibly every day! My heart is indeed in need of a cleaning....which is more important than the house which also has several areas of clutter!

God bless,

Brenda

shanalee said...

Your devo was straight out of the mouth of GOD. I prayer journal and I had just asked God to help me clean out my heart closets. I struggle with bitterness. The WORD says to get rid of it, but that seems easier said than done.What do you think might be an antidote? Got any suggestions? Thank you for listening to the LORD !  Shanalee

Joyful said...

Search me O God, and know my 'trash'...I mean 'heart' :o)

As I read your devo and post here my mind went to a basket in our kitchen that houses our incoming mail. Papers, letters, receipts etc...that need to be filed. Not long ago I spent an entire afternoon sorting through those papers and then putting them where they belonged. At that moment, when the basket was empty, I said I would do this job daily so that it wouldn't accummulate. Well...guess what? Intention alone doesn't get the job done. That very basket is now overflowing again and I know it will take another full afternoon to sort it and file it away. The job looming now seems huge and with each passing day that mountain of paper grows taller. If only I had disciplined myself to keep at it daily.

This has made me think of how I daily need to come before the Lord and confess my 'trash' so that it's not blocking the way of communication with Him. If I let even one day go by, the pile in my heart basket will block my view and give Satan opportunity to "frolilc and play" in my trash.

Thanks for this reminder. Unlike the city laws, so glad every day is "Garbage Day" and I don't have a limit or restriction on the number of bags at the curb of my heart. God will take them all away, and at no extra charge. The price has already been paid.

Bundling up my trash,
Joy

Unknown said...

Thank you for the great devo!

Have a wonderful week!!!

Doesn't life flow more easily when the trash is gone! (from the closet and the heart!)

Love,
tammy

Anonymous said...

Your devo today spoke directly to me on several levels. 1, my house is a constant disaster. I do nothing about it which makes me loath myself. I pray to God to help me not be so lazy and yet I still do nothing about it. I lost my job and I keep telling myself I bet God wants me to clean my house and then my life and job situation will be clean. Yet I still haven't done anything about it. I don't know why...
The 2nd reason is now with all of my self loathing, I lashed out at a friend saying something ugly to her. I knew it was wrong and now I see sure enough from your blog, the trash in my life has done exactly what you said, "our hearts are full of clutter clutter such as unforgiveness, bitterness, self-condemnation, sadness, lack of joy, worry and much more."
I pray to God to release me of this trash and clutter. Please everyone out there reading this, please pray for me too. Thank you!