Decluttering the SoulSample

Figuring Out What Needs to Go

One of the most challenging parts of decluttering is deciding what needs to go. An easy question to ask is, “Does this item reflect my current lifestyle, or rather a season that I am no longer in?” During my college years, I was an avid swing dancer and in the years after graduating, I was a swing dance instructor. Yes, the jitterbugging, flipping in the air, fancy footworking kind of swing dancer. I loved it! When I met my husband, he learned to dance, and one of our favorite activities while dating was swing dancing the night away. 

With three kids under the age of five, we are in a very different season of life now. We haven’t been dancing in years. Our favorite places open at eight o’ clock, which is an hour past the kids’ bedtime at our house. On my decluttering journey, I had to face the fact that I owned several pairs of shoes and a bunch of dresses that were specific to an activity that I no longer participated in. While they represent a season of life filled with good memories, they no longer reflect who I am today in my current season. Swing dancing, while a part of who I was, does not define who I was or currently am. I am enjoying different things now. It is time to let that piece of my life go.

Our spiritual journeys are filled with seasonal changes just like our lives. The way in which we serve God will shift with time as we follow His direction. In a season of caring for small children or an aging parent, our capacity for ministry outside the home may decrease, but our influence in the lives of those around us does not. We often believe the lie that what we used to do for God in another season was better. We compare our current work with the past and wonder if God is still pleased with our efforts. Serving in a quiet, low profile position does not make us less important to God. 

While our capacity for serving God fluctuates with each season, so do the ways in which we serve. What does not change, however, is our goal - to know Christ and make Him known. When we get caught up in doing, we forget that we are actually called first and foremost to being. We must learn to detach our identity from accomplishments and focus on becoming who God wants us to be. 

We all know that the enemy of what is best is something good. If we chase the feeling of significance that comes from prestigious ministry rather than serving for the glory of God, we miss the purpose. When we let go of our glory from past achievements, we are willing to serve as Jesus did, in the small and unseen ways. Instead of putting our energy into preaching to the masses, we focus it first on praying alone on the mountainside. Decluttering the trophies of kingdom work makes room for embodying the hands and feet of Christ.

Pray

Father, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of building your kingdom on earth. Help me to find joy in serving you in whatever capacity you call me to in each season, whether or not it is considered noble by the world’s standards. Help me also, not to allow my past achievements to clutter the call that you have given to me today. Above all else, I want to know you and become like you.

Reflect

What past achievements or current expectations are cluttering my soul today?