Mid-Life Crisis This fall, I will hit the mid-century mark. 50 years old: Its almost hard to believe. Have you ever heard of stories about men who have a mid-life crisis? Some will buy a sports car, others have affairs, a few will dye their hair and change their looks, trying to look younger... Me? Im getting rid of stuff! Thats right: I officially declare that the year of my 50th birthday means that my family and I need to go through all of the containers and boxes that decorate every room in our house and we are getting rid of stuff! This weekend, I loaded my van with some treasures for the Solid Rock Garage sale that takes place this weekend. My wife and I even made a trip to the city recycling center yesterday, ridding ourselves of two old mattresses, oil, fluorescent light bulbs, and some scrap metal. It felt good to get rid of those things, but I realized one thing: We still have a lot of stuff. Papers we accumulated during the kids school years, things that well get around to displaying or fixing or holding on to for a rainy day. Are we hoarders? No, not even close. We were just raised by our parents to keep things JUST IN CASE. It was a byproduct of our parents eras; if it was broke, you fixed it. You never knew if youd ever need that thing again so you held onto it, JUST IN CASE. But something happens when you move from a large house to a smaller house, as we did back in 1999: there isnt quite enough room for all of our stuff. I know that my wife plans to have a garage sale, either before or after our sons graduation party this year. So, well be going through more stuff, trying to determine if its worth keeping or getting rid of, secretly hoping that one of our long-held treasures reaps us a boatload of money so we can pay off our bills and move to a larger house. HA HA! No, actually we hope that we can go through all of our clutter and downsize. As I sit hear and write todays message, Im reminded that our hearts are just like our homes. We hold on to too much stuff. Past hurts, regrets from days gone by, we keep accumulating stuff in our hearts. Sure, we want to keep the fond memories in there, but we need to let go of the clutter thats weighing us down and keeping us from being the children that God created us to be. My prayer for you this morning is that you let go of those past hurts. Forgive the ones who have hurt you. Accept that youve made mistakes and so have others in your life. Free yourself from the negativity, doubt, and pain that youve harbored inside for far too long. Give it all away...give it up to the Lord. Take the ownership of those burdens and release it to Heaven: Let God know that you are tired of trying to be judge, jury, and executioner. Tell him that you are no longer hoarding those hurtful feelings. Release any negativity and pain and allow yourself to be truly free. Then, you will finally see how clean your heart can be, once youve removed all the clutter that youve been holding inside for far too long, and you will truly know what it means to be free. Releasing past pain and hurts? Its a smart thing to do, whether you are having a mid-life crisis or not. Amen. ~John Lloyd~
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 11:59:33 +0000
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