A few days ago, I commented about taking some time out to relax on the couch. A fellow mom asked "What's that?" to which I laughingly replied: "You know! It's that thing in the living room where I pile my laundry. The clothes get to rest on the cushions for a week before they're folded and put away."
It seems that no matter how much I try, there is a pile of laundry somewhere in my house. I noticed the other day that while we have lots of laundry, we all seem to wear pretty much the same outfits all the time! Pretty soon here, I'm going to be going through the piles and sharing the items that we simply aren't using. But it got me to thinking - if I looked at my faith life through the 'laundry lens', what does it look like? Which faith-clothes do I wear consistently? Which ones sit in a pile in the corner? Are there faith-clothes that never seem to get pulled out of the closet? "So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive and offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all purpose garment. Never be without it." Colossians 3:12-14 When we read about reorganizing our closet and only keeping the 'essentials', we think basics. I believe the same goes with our faith life as well. There are many, many styles, fabrics, fits and fads in the faith industry. So many books, teachings, approaches that can take the place of all the basics. This year, I challenge you to take stock of your faith-closet and focus on the basics, as listed above. In addition, how about putting down the latest book and reading The Book instead? How about setting time aside each week to spend time with Jesus, listening to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit? Now time to get back to the basics and focus on practising the basics of faith. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some laundry to fold!
4 Comments
1/11/2012 10:31:58 pm
Interesting analogy between a minimal closet and Faith. I hadn't thought of it like that, but Faith can certainly be put on a back burner if cluttered by activities and "stuff". Mornings are sacred around here. It is quiet from 5:30am until about 7:30am...one can meditate and pray. Read and reflect. My prayer is that everyone can have a 2 hour time span to do just that. It sure orders the day making every task less challenging. Blessings~
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Rosalyn
1/12/2012 03:49:58 am
It is certainly wonderful to have time to enjoy Jesus in the quiet of morning... I too hope that others can make the connection between minimalism in our faith. So often we are inundated with more than the basics - and we begin to lose our ability to be content with God himself, as we look for the trappings instead....
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heather lape
1/11/2012 11:33:31 pm
I loved this! It is so true...we need to constantly be evaluating our faith closet to see what more we can do or use to honor God. So many times we let stuff get in the way.....it we focus on the basics we can experience God in a mighty way! Thanks for sharing!
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Rosalyn
1/12/2012 03:51:23 am
Or... perhaps our closet is simply too full, and we need to simplify and focus on less, so that we can hear and accomplish more.
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