Reload or Relent?

Every night I go to bed with a clean purse and a clean email inbox. This tradition of mine began as a method to take inventory of my today and make room for my tomorrow. For years now, it’s been working wonderfully well. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and underprepared; I awake each new day feeling fresh and ready to take on a new and exciting task. I look at my inbox and I know that the things of yesterday are complete and I’m free to handle the challenges and triumphs that today will bring.

Although I’ve mastered the art of clearing my handbag and my Outlook account, I’ve found it difficult to apply the same ‘cleaning’ method to my hearts harbored offenses. The wrong that someone did to me from ‘94 is still hanging out in the dining room of my medulla oblongata. Imagine how grand life would be if we could use one of the  men in black harsh memory eraser thingies or just hit a button and expunge all of the emotional baggage that has been bestowed upon us from years past. If we could take inventory of our heart and ship out the sadness and sorrow and order new joys and mercy to take its place. If there were a way to a perform a self-lobotomy and keep the good but purge the bad we would live life with no burdens to bear; no worries or care. 

Then I realized it IS that simple. 

The mind is the most powerful organ in our arsenal of weaponry against the spiritual attacks we face. The second most impactful element available to us is the power to choose. When we choose to meditate on the good, pleasant, noble, righteous moments those negative and unjust moments tend to disappear. Meditation means giving continued, extended thought or contemplation to a thing. When we massage in the good, the bad will ooze out. 

One universal truth is this: What you feed grows, what you starve dies. The hurt that we harbor continues to pile up and produce pain year after year. Imagine an inbox or a purse that was never tended to and more of the same junk mail kept getting added to it. You would find yourself less productive each time you had to check your email or reach for your billfold. Non productive attempts lead to frustration and then contempt. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly so when we are living less than stellar lives that means something is not adding up. When something is not adding up it’s time to start subtracting. 

We use our hearts every day. God fashioned us as beings that are strengthened through relationships. No man is an island and we all have social strings that pull us in various directions. Since this is true, we must be mindful of the condition of the heart that we are bringing with us to each social setting. If we have crud and crass left in our heart from previous hurt; that hurt will lead to a habit and a perpetual hang-up that will manifest itself in another relationship. The wounds of our past can easily turn into weapons of our present if we are not cleaning out our proverbial closets.

Much like with my handbag and my email routine, I encourage you to Control+Alt+Delete the mess of madness that’s clouding your heart and make room for the litany of love that God wants to pour into your spirit instead. You’ve mastered the art of reloading your burdens each morning; give your back a break. Relent, repent, then lay your burdens down and find sweet rest. 

Quote: “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” -Paul Boese

Song: “East from the West” by Casting Crowns

Meditation Scripture: Matthew 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?