Is your closet in dire need of a good scrubbin'?
What's in your closet?
Today was our final session for Me, Myself, and Lies. It is bitter sweet but it was FAB-U-LOUS! We will all miss the Monday gabs and sharing God's word together!! So, I write to relish a little longer on lessons learned. We have committed to hold each other accountable and not just at Bible studies or specific times but BE THERE!! And when your closet is cleaned out you can do it!!
Now on to Week 2, Jennifer gets us digging around in our closet. What a trek!!! I was scared just at the thought of it. And I am certain if she really went through my closet with me, she would be scared too!! There are too many years of untapped, untouched, and unworn clothing in my actual closet so I was in fear of discovering what was in my mind. I've got the "fat" clothes, the "I will wear them again!" clothes, shoes for every day of the week, and don't forget the "they'll come back in style" section ~ that is the best part! I have purses, boxes, hats, a mum from 1986, a stool with my high school on it, a drill team hat, Christmas gifts (I'm an early shopper), and many other things you would think me crazy for keeping.
Oh but when it comes to our thoughts and what we have stored in there we see a different theme!! Most of my actual physical items brought back good, NO GREAT memories. But our thoughts are usually piled up by our wrongs, hurts, and violations. This leads to me and other women becoming fearful to be vulnerable with others. Our guards are up but not to keep the bad out but to keep anyone from coming in.
This particular week unfolds some thoughts we have stored tightly and helps get to the root of the matter. I will walk you through the parts of this week which were significant to me.
Day 1: Labels
We discussed our labels, destructive ones first. We learned where these were from: parents, disability, ourselves, spouse, siblings, employers, physical characteristics, former failures, or childhood comments. Then there was a blank for you to fill in if your label came from someplace else. WOW! That was digging deep and exposing some STUH-UH-UH-Uh-uf. And of course there are the 'labels' that are real. Keep in mind that a label is just a label and does not make the person what it is.
AHHH, but then we address if it is all based on truth. Remember Philippians 4:8? Most of us were able to say our labels were not true unless is from a condition (like Jennifer Rothschild's blindness). We all have factual labels...Mother, daughter, sister, friend, employee, employer, or ....You get the idea you have a label. I have always been blonde and as age sets in, I intend to stay that way. {insert snicker-snort here!}
But what have I done with these labels? What is attached to them? What if instead of Mother you were childless? Is that WHO you are? What if your mother is no longer here like mine? Am I still not a daughter? You see the theme? Labels are as labels are! What you think about that label is crucial. And what you allow it to speak over you is significant!!
Day 1 ends with the challenge to take each thought captive!
Hold on tight! "They're slippery little suckers!"
Day 2
"Sometimes we label ourselves and sometimes others label us." Do you ever feel REDUCED by the label that is placed upon you? I know, we all do at times. She wanted to know if we ever felt a disconnect due to the label. This is important because she adds this:
I love the example she used of Naomi found in Ruth, a book in the Old Testament. Naomi had lost her husband and sons; she was a widow. This was her label. But she took it a step further and assigned that fate to herself. Her saddness caused her to call herself "bitter" and changed her name to match. She no longer felt she was in God's favor and she wore this painful label daily. Oh, but don't judge, just ask yourself what is your label that is REAL but has an untrue fate assigned to it? And let it be known that Naomi felt a significant impact on her faith by this implication. What a fate to assign to your fact!!!! [bitterness] Remember it is temporary!
God is sweet and Naomi's bitterness had defeat!
Day 3
If you ever change your mind ( I love Crystal Gayle!) that has nothing to do with this, well it sort of does. I hope that you know how very deeply this study has changed me on the inside and has changed my mind!
See our mind, according to Jennifer and the Bible btw, should be like the mind of Christ Jesus. She has us look at how HIS is described and I got this acrostic:
MIND - Majestic Immaculate Noble and Disciplined
Wow, she said that our mind should be described the same! THE SAME???
When the world says to make violators pay, Christ thinks forgive. Eph.4:32 and Luke 17:3-4
When the world says to look out for "number one", Christ thinks be humble. Col. 3:12 and Phil.2:3
When the world says buy now, Christ thinks be the Lender. Matt 5:41-42
When the world tells you "just do it", Christ thinks be self-controlled. 2 Peter 1:5-8
When the world says pull yourself up by the bootstraps, Christ thinks, He is our strength. Phil. 2:13
When the world says it's all about you, Christ thinks you were bought with a price. 1 Cor. 6:20
We need to be authentic and make sure we clean the inside of the cup!!
(It usually starts with your mind.)
Day 4
This day is called to order by looking at our Faulty Assumptions. We base all our thoughts on our assumptions then we create our perceptions based upon them and whala REALITY. Perception is true NOT reality. It is your view point on reality based upon what you have observed and deduced as fact into a full force storyline. It is a horrible cycle of events and causes you to create your own misery!! You become a fiction writer and a pretty good one at that!! Jennifer shows us in the Word how dangerous it is to nurture these faulty assumptions.
Martha (John 11:21) told Jesus if he only come sooner then her brother would not have died. Rachel (Gen 30:1) thought it better to take control if life was too hard and just abandon God.
These are all false assumptions! You suffer from this? Know you are not without help, and that's a fact!
But if we dwell in the darkness of our minds there is the scary part: 1 Peter 2:10 tells us that those who are presumptuous are corrupt and despise authority. Yikes, that is so harsh, but it is so TRUE. And this type of sin is willful sin. We choose to follow our own perceptions or not. Psalm 19:13 gives us a great prayer to help keep us from willful sins.
Day 5
This day reveals how our thoughts reveal our belief and our lack of wisdom. This day was challenging to the core. This time she used the example of a good tree bearing good fruit and a bad tree bearing bad fruit.
Here she really digs into the root of the problem. The dangerous place is where it begins...in the roots. If you allow bitterness to grow, it will reach root deep. Hebrews 12:15 warns us from the bitter root!! "See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."
How you react to others reveals the health of your root. How you react to others reveals the health of your root and the assumptions you are acting upon. She used a very poignant example: Taking it personally when your hubby leaves the toilet seat up........... What gets your root rapping?
Remember you can't treat root rot by simply spraying the leaves. You have to dig deep!! I believe this is why it is very important to FIRST clean the inside of the cup. But don't we get it so backwards??? Here are some possible examples:
- I can't go to church until I quit _________. (you got one? we all do!!)
- I can't pray until I _________. (He wants you just as you are!)
This study uncovered a lot for me, the layers in my cup were thick. Have you ever known anyone who chooses not to wash their coffee pot or favorite cup? I knew someone who just rinsed theirs and never scrubbed it!! Ewwwww!! Their coffee did not taste as good or fresh to me. It had a certain thickness and after-taste. This is the impact we could leave on others.
Clean the cup first and worry about externals later as Christ compels and convicts. But once He does convict stay disciplined so that it will not become willful sin. Regardless of the analogies used by Jennifer or inserted by me it boils down to what is going on in your mind and how you think. This is usually where it all begins.
So, what's in your closet?
If it matches this one below, no worries, next we label with truth and wisdom!
Sometimes we self-impose the disconnect and we then assign a "fate" rather than "faith" to our fact.
