Some people like spring cleaning. Me? I like to clean in the fall.
Maybe it’s watching how the leaves start fading into melancholy orange-yellows or feeling the air bite crisp and chilly in the mornings that injects the urge to clear out space.
I suspect it has something to do with getting sweaters inventoried and resurrecting comfy old jeans. As I turn from making lemonade to stocking up on honey and chamomile tea, each autumn ritual reminds me winter is coming.
Not only will I need the space for new books for cozy reading and holiday cards, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. The house needs to get decluttered, after summer survival break with the kids at home.
As a recent mom of two, I’ve acquired a gazillion number of new things to store and put away.
As a recovering pack rat, however, I’m faced with the final frontier of purging what isn’t needed any longer.
It turns out, the closets in my home aren’t the only places I’m finding cluttered.
God’s been urging me to clear out things I’ve let gather dust in the cramped quarters of my heart.
Sometimes I take them out, brush off the cobwebs and peer into what might have been.
I’ve got some old, worn rags called sorrows and hurts that I hang onto, not knowing how to let them go.
On the shelves of shattered dreams, I continue to ask God, “Why?” and “When?”.
Sometimes, in order proceed onto a new path, we need to leave what’s familiar behind.
I’m currently trying on some new attitudes, and I’m finding it is easy to end up back where I was, with old habits.
But, I’m not turning back. I don’t want to go back to the way I was.
Jesus doesn’t condemn me. He doesn’t hold regret either.
He waits patiently and assures me, It’s never too late, Bonnie.
Jesus answered and called me to lay down yesterday and make room for new blessings.
“No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” ~ Jesus (Luke 5:36-38)
Faith waits for me to clear out the clutter to receive what God has in store: abundance, fulfillment, and joy.
As we enter into a season of toasty fireplace evenings, let’s pack some old things still stored in our closets.
New wine is waiting to be poured into our lives.
Newness will enter, one faith change at a time.
Will you excuse me now? I need to go clean out my closets.
What is something new God is pointing you towards?
How Is God calling you to make room for something new?
Today marks the first post in a series titled, "What's New With You?".
Be sure to catch the entire series:
Introduction: Your Best Days Are Ahead Of You
Part 2: Faith Isn't Sci-Fi: Change Takes TIme
Part 3: Sink or Swim, God's Love Won't Quit
Part 4: A Faith Intervention
Part 5: The Bloom of Becoming
Part 6: The Beauty Of Whitespace
Would you join me and share what new things God is doing in your life?
Please comment.
It would be wonderful to be encouraged by sharing in your current faith walk.
Your experience would weave fellowship into my spirit.
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22 Comments
Thank-you Bonnie,
We sure wish we had some of that fall weather down here in Florida. It is hot as a oven, still.
Our Father is pointing me toward repentance at the moment. Life has become increasingly about me the last few weeks, with the predictable, negative consequences . . . Time to start over . . . Again 🙂
Thankfully we have a Father who loves us dearly, a Father of ten thousand second-chances…
Thank you! I think you have expressed perfectly what I love about this time of year…and what God has been speaking to my own heart for a number of weeks.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by MakeADifferenceToOne and Bonnie Gray. Bonnie Gray said: New Post: It's Fall & I'm Getting Rid of Clutter http://bit.ly/NkURB Never Too Late To Make Room For New […]
Bonnie,
Thanks for the inspiration! It is finally feeling like fall here today! 🙂
Genny
It’s never too late…
I needed to read this today, Bonnie. (what else is new, right?) 🙂
Thank you!!
I love the words, “It’s never too late.” Thank, God, right? Also, “Sometimes, in order proceed onto a new path, we need to leave what’s familiar behind.” I think God wants us to put ourselves out there and to be out of our comfort zones. That’s when our faith grows. I love this post, Bonnie, an I’m looking forward to more in the series.
Heather
Oh this is just what I needed to read today…..I just posted last week about me being a new chapter in life and how I am reacting to it all……
I love how you comforted my soul with Jesus’s reassurance of it never being too late…and I also love how I trust that God will meet us where ever we are, however we are……but loves us enough to not keep us there.
xox
*~Michelle~*
ps. I just dove into fall cleaning and decorating myself this weekend! YAY!
I just started getting my sweaters out over the weekend, culling the Keeps from the Giveaways. I like this purging, too. Makes me feel lighter.
Great post, Bonnie.
I’ve been turning this corner for so long I feel I’ll never see fully around it. I keep going.
Autumn is a good time to remember that even in the changes which seem to bring death, there is color, and harvest, and promise of rest.
I’ve reached that threshold of when your kids are old enough to start going to school. I am kind of at that place where I’ve got some choices about how I want to spend my time.
After praying for months, I decided to quit my part-time teaching job. This decision is so hard, but I know it’s the right one because of the doors that God has opened for me in the last few weeks. “Walking by faith and not by sight…”
It’s easy to talk about leaving the past behind. But since the past is what makes us who we are, that can be quite difficult. As you said, that is where faith comes in again.
Recently I was watching the leaves fall and this verse from John 12 came to mind: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The dying process is painful. And to be honest, I’m going through that process right now in areas of my life. But as my flesh dies and the sins and sorrow die, they drop as seed into the ground so that when spring comes, they’ll bear fruit. Thanks for the encouragement and the reminder, Bonnie!
Don’t think I’ll be getting ready for fall any time soon over here. In fact, I didn’t bring any sweaters or jackets with me.
God has already brought me a long way to get me here in the DR and not in an office somewhere back in the States. What is he preparing me for now? Only he knows. Will I be playing baseball? Working for a Church? Going to seminary? Working for a baseball team? Back in the DR? Something I’m not even thinking about right now?
Right now he is working my complacency out of me so that the old doesn’t creep out of the closet and show itself again. When we let our guards down and think we have won, we open ourselves up to fall into the same old things we thought we defeated.
Thanks for all your comments, sharing your thoughts in the moment.
They are a welcome breeze, adding lift to my sails, to encourage me in my experience of letting something new into my life.
@Russell: “Time to start over”. We are doing the hard work of entering into God’s rest. “Thankfully, we have a Father.. of 10K second changes.. ” Amen. There can be no other way.
@Kristine: How nice to have God speaking in such a season as this. Thanks, Kristine.
@Genny: Yep, I’ve been waiting for quite some time, too.
@Bridget: Nothing new here! 🙂
@Heather: “Out of our comfort zones” Oh, yeah. I’m feein’ it! 😉 I agree — “It’s never too late” are wonderful words to hear from a friend such as Jesus.
@Michelle: Thanks, Michelle! Sounds like we were busy bees this past weekend. I’ll have to catch up on your post last week.
@Billy: “culling” is a great word to add to this fall and soul activity, Billy. “Lighter” is a great feeling.
@ Anne: What an apt illustrative phrase, Anne! “turning this corner so long, I’l never see fully around it. I keep going.”
@Ginny: Praise God He has opened some doors, just enough for you to let go of your PT teaching job, Ginny! Oh, yeah, the past is both friend and foe. God, give us wisdom to exercise the difference.
@Sarah: Yes, I read your post on the trees’ branches that reach out .. beautiful. The promise of spring – it’s a remindful encouragement, Sarah. Thanks!
@Chris: That is so awesome you’ve got your eye on the prize, Chris – the one God has put in front of you in this moment. Great thoughts. Thank you!
[…] New With You?", where I explore some new changes God is pointing me towards. Be sure to catch Part 1: Never Too Late To Make Room For New Would you faith walk with me? Please comment. It would be wonderful to be encouraged by sharing in […]
“On the shelves of shattered dreams, I continue to ask God, “Why?” and “When?”
Sometimes, in order proceed onto a new path, we need to leave what’s familiar behind.”
For many years I’d jump first and figure out how to land as I fell. That has changed. Now I learn to fly before I jump. That’s good in some ways, bad in others. Due to past crash landings and becoming familiar and comfortable with my now, I’m tempted to relax and let others jump.
But, your post stirred some leaves ready to fall. It’s not new things God is pointing me to but some old dreams that have sat on the shelf so long I’ve tired of asking “Why?” and “When?”
Thanks Bonnie, think I’ll jump out of this familiar nest, stretch my wings and go for a fly.
@Doug: Wow, Doug. I hope you go for it! Whatever it is, when you are ready, let me know, okay? Because I will pray for you and encourage you in it. Life is short. If God is stirring you to stop asking why and when about an old dream, I pray He won’t stop until you’re moved. 😉 From one crash landing survivor to another.
[…] post is Part 3 in a series titled, "What's New With You?". Be sure to catch: Part 1: Never Too Late To Make Room For New Part 2: Faith Isn't Sci-Fi: Change Takes TIme Will you faith walk with me? Please comment. It […]
Hey there! Your blog is beautiful and so is your heart for God.
Come join us this weekend over at my blog for Weekend Wisdom and Worship- Week 1! Check it out, I know you’ll like it. Let us encourage the body of Christ together.
Nice to meet you new friend!
[…] We’ve been talking a lot about newness and how beautiful it is to reach for it, in our steps of faith. […]
@Traci: Thanks for stopping by, Traci, and dropping a pointer to your blog. “Let us encrourage the body of Christ together.” Amen! Keep on encouraging!
[…] we wrap up our series What’s New With You?, I’d like to end on a sentimental […]
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