Eph 4:22 – 24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put
off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;to
be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to
put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.
The week after Christmas seemed to me to be a good time to go through ALL of my clothes and to get organized! In the fall, I had gone through all of my sweaters and I had given several boxes of them away. The result was that my sweaters were still all nicely organized and neatly stored on shelves in my closet. This winter I could easily find and wear my favorite sweaters and cardigans. I really liked that.
But unfortunately, it had been a very long time since I had done a complete reassessment of all of the other clothing items that I owned. As I started getting into the project, I was shocked at just how many items I had crammed into the hanging part of my closet. There were even some shirts in there that were not actually hanging up any more. They had slipped off their hangers and were now just wedged in between the other shirts!
In addition to the closet, I also have a tall dresser that was packed full of clothes. My husband then reminded me that I also had four big black totes of items that I had stored away in the attic, and that there were a bunch of, “Summer” things that I had tucked into the back of the front hall closet. –It was all embarrassingly obvious that I had stored away far too much. This project was not going to be a one-day task!
As I went through every single item, trying on each one, I was often distracted by how many of the items brought back memories. I found the linen jacket with the decorative coral trim that I had bought for a job interview in 2006, and the elegant black and white jacket that I wore when I was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in 2005. Digging deep into the black storage totes from the attic, I found the sweatshirts that I wore when I worked for the American Red Cross in the 1990’s. Along with the sweatshirts, I also found the 1980’s pleat fronted brown houndstooth patterned pants that I had purchased in a thrift store!
While some of the items that I found during my project still fit my body and still looked great, I often had to ask myself if that item was really still “me” anymore. –I had to assess who I was now and where I was now and what sort of clothes I wanted and needed to keep and utilize. While I decided that keeping a few of the stranger items on hand for costuming purposes was ok, I still had to make a lot of decisions about letting go of who I was in the past in order to make some room for who I am becoming in the future.
Sorting through all of my clothes was much like the type of
spiritual assessments that we frequently do at the beginning of the year. As the new year begins, we should ask
ourselves who we are now, and who do we want to be in 2022? We may question our priorities and our
relationships, and if we are honest with ourselves, we may take the time to do
a little thinking about the actual purpose of our lives here on this planet.
Who are you in 2022? Are you today making the decisions and living
the life that you want to be remembered for at your funeral? What are your
relationships with God and with other people like? Are you part of a church
community that is working on spreading the love of Jesus and making this world
a better place for others?
As we stride into 2022, with all of its many challenges; today I invite you to shed the things about your life that you want to leave in the past and to make room in your life for the stuff that really matters today. –You may just find that some things in your life do not fit you anymore. You don’t need to hang on to those things. Just say goodbye and let them go. Then open your heart to all the new adventures that God has in store for you. They may just look great on you.
January 01, 2022
