Take out the Trash

How often do you have to take out the trash at home? Specifically in your kitchen? I have a theory that the number correlates with the number of people in your household. We "get" to take it out a few times a week. ;-) Or we should. Today it was overflowing while I added old straws and napkins and cleaned the kitchen. Time to take out the trash.

Sometimes the "trash" of old behaviors and mindsets need to go--tossed out of our lives for good.

Let's make some spiritual comparisons.

There are trash days. Specifically, the night before the collectors come around in their noisy trucks and disturb our sleeping neighborhood. I liken this to New Year's or birthdays. Self-examination. Set new goals. Make changes. Embrace changes. Out with the old and in with the new.

There are overflowing days--when the wastebaskets in the house just don't seem big enough. That's like our old mindsets trying to hold new, fresh information. Jesus referred to this as old wine skins. Fresh wine (fresh insights or understanding) does not belong in old wine skins. The process of fermentation will make it burst. The process of trying to live like a new person while espousing old mindsets will not work. Ya hafta get rid of the old way of thinking.

There are motivating days (like right before collection days or vacations). These are when you rush around the house dumping every basket into large trash bags. Every bin is left empty and ready for whatever's next. Those motivations spiritually are when something ugly keeps rearing up in your life; you see every area it touches, and you determine to change once and for all. “Lord, I hate being like this (i.e. living with this awful attitude, etc.). Change me.”

Are there areas in your life that need to change? Where old thoughts or behaviors have to go to make room for victory? Is it time to take out the trash?