MOVING SEASON

A week ago I spoke with a couple who are moving.  As they told me about this change in their lives they shook their heads and said, “So we are sorting and throwing out things…giving so much away.  You don’t realize how much you have accumulated until you start boxing things up.”

Lent, this blessed season in which God invites us to reflect on the people we are, our attitudes and behaviors, is like a moving season.  We slow down, we pray, we open the Bible or we begin to journal or we engage in some intentional act of service, and we realize how much we have accumulated along the way.  Some of what we have sitting on our shelves, in our head and heart, is so good!  And more than we would want to admit is junk.  Old attitudes, resentments, fears and addictions that need to be boxed up and given away…to God.

Amy Lyles Wilson, in the current issue of Alive Now (a periodical from the Upper Room you may want to subscribe to by going to alivenow.org), has written an article titled 10 Suggestions for Making Peace with Your Past.  Here, in part, is what she writes (with some additional notes from me):

     1. Forgive yourself.  Take time to let go of words or deeds you wish you had handled differently.

     2. Write a letter to someone you have been meaning to forgive.

     3. Allow your friends and family members (I’d add church members, church staff and pastors!) to make mistakes.  Nobody is perfect – even the people you live and worship with!

     4. Pray for the person who has hurt you.  Praying for someone has a way of setting our own hearts free from bitterness.

     5. Remember that forgiving does not mean pretending that the offensive act never happened.  Holding onto the need to get even just wears us out…

     6. Ask yourself if you need to seek forgiveness from anyone you’ve harmed.  Take the initiative.

     7. Learn from your past mistakes.  Identify how you would have handled a situation differently and let that insight shape your future behavior.

     8. Accept the fact you can’t control the outcome.  All you can do is make the first move towards forgiveness or reconciliation.

     9. Talk to a counselor if what you are dealing with is terribly difficult.

    10. Don’t panic if forgiveness does not come easily.  Sometimes forgiveness takes time.

Look around.  What needs to be boxed up and gotten rid of?

Jesus, in Matthew 6, says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume.”  Later, he says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What does “moving season” mean for you in your life?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark