Cleaning out the junk drawer
We all have ‘junk drawers’ in our homes, mine is in the kitchen. The other day I was digging in the drawer looking for tape. However, it took me a while to find it because I had to dig through too much stuff. I thought to myself; ‘How in the world did all this stuff find its way back into this drawer?’ You see, I had just cleaned that drawer out about 6 months ago. I found all kinds of crazy things. Tools that belong in the garage toolbox. Different colored ribbon of all lengths pretty much tangled together into one knot. Keys of all sized that unlocks who knows what. Little army men and random small toys, mind you my children are young adults. Batteries that probably have been discarded because they had were no longer usable but we didn’t know how to ‘properly’ dispose of them. There were hook, nails, screws, tacks and other dangerous things that can bite your hand as you dig through the dreaded drawer.
Wondering to myself again of how in the drawer got so full again, I realized something. It’s my own fault, when I want to do a ‘quick’ pick up around the house, I will throw the random things into the drawer. Instead of properly taking care of these items I will just let it pile up to the point that the drawer is no longer functional. Well, this is a simple fix, just take care of these items the way I should in the first place. Right?
Unfortunately, I do the same thing with the ‘junk’ inside of my head, those negative things that I say about myself. God has shown me over the years and I have freedom from this way of thinking. Yet, that old sinking thinking can find its way back inside my head. Then the junk gets piled up inside me and I cannot function as God intended. Again, this can be a simple fix, right? I just need to take care of these things appropriately, and not just throw it into a ‘junk drawer’ of my mind.
Well, truthfully this is a disciple that I need to master, taking care of this ‘stinkin thinkin’ as soon as it crosses my mind is really going to take discipline. Just because I may ‘push’ the thoughts aside does not necessarily mean it is properly taken care of. And to do this I must identify what God says about me, or the situation.
It really doesn’t take that long because I have learned truths about myself and who I identify with [Jesus]. So, why is it that I get ‘tripped up’ thinking that I don’t have time for me and my emotional health? I just keep pushing those ugly things I think or say about myself to the side and doing so I tell myself; I am okay. But, just because I am not consciously agreeing with the belief doesn’t necessarily mean that I have dealt with it.
If I truly want to remove all traces of the wrong thinking – I have to see where this idea came from. It could be a past memory I had from childhood, or it could be something I overheard somewhere.
One time I heard someone make the statement that Blogs are nothing more than an individual’s diary open on the coffee table for others to read. And for a long time, I didn’t even know that was something that I subconsciously partnered with but when I had the desire to write something for 2liftuup, I talked myself out of it, deciding it didn’t matter. I hope this is making sense to you.
So what about you? Do you find that the drawers [files] in your mind are getting harder to work? Are you properly putting things where they belong: Truth [keep] Lie [throw out].