Do you know that you have clutter? Maybe not the physical type, but certainly emotional and spiritual. Our clutter includes our hurts, humiliations and hungers –anything from our past that we’ve not dealt with, and therefore, continue to haul around with us.
Unfortunately, our clutter causes resistance to getting free of ourselves -and getting free of ourselves, prevents us from living wholeheartedly. In other words, if we want to experience God’s best, we must learn to get free of ourselves.
Hopefully that isn’t a surprise to you. However, what may be surprising, is how easy it is to recognize a woman who is not yet free of herself (a woman who lives half-heartedly).
These are the most common symptoms of a half-hearted life:
- Talking incessantly; telling others about themselves, their kids and what’s going on in in their life –and failing to ask about others
- Being too sensitive (taking things personally that aren’t personal)
- Being insecure/lacking confidence
- Perfectionism
- Being defensive (not being able to handle mistakes –theirs or others)
- Being impatient
- Being offensive, off-putting or divisive
Do you recognize someone in the list above? It’s most natural to first think of others who demonstrate those symptoms. However, if you’re willing to do so, take some time to consider your own behaviors. How is your clutter contributing to some of those same symptoms?
How would it feel to get free of yourself? How would it feel to get out of your own way –to stop preventing yourself from what you really want? What might you accomplish if you learned to be confident in who you are, if you learned to LIKE who you are and to be an encouraging, supportive friend to yourself?
Getting free of yourself is not a quick fix; getting free of yourself involves developing (and maintaining) a healthy relationship with yourself. If you’re willing to invest the time, energy and money to do so, you can become free to partner with God; you can learn to trust His agenda, His timing and His orchestration of your life.
Ultimately, Jesus already paid the price for your freedom; He gave His life so that you could be free –free to be who you’re created to be, and do what you’re created to do (which is focus on Him). With that in mind, can you really afford not to experience that freedom? Will you continue to allow your clutter to prevent you from living wholeheartedly? Maybe it’s time to kiss the symptoms of a half-hearted life “good-bye.” (Learn how to do so in Part 2)