This week I have been having an autumnal spruce up, rather than a spring clean, of my kitchen cupboards. While pulling everything out and sorting through, I’ve discovered things that have been long forgotten. The amount of useless, unused, and shockingly out of date is probably shameful!
I don’t know about you but sometimes I buy something that is expensive and end up not using it. In 2007 I bought some Saffron to make a dessert, and yes this is still in my herb drawer (Saffron is an expensive herb around £105.00 for 10g.). It is expensive, I needed to be careful when using it, but now I’ve ended up with it as a decoration taking up space.
However, some of it is absolute gold. I found a knife sharpener, lost in the dark corners of the deepest cupboard surrounded by the dross of the unused, useless, and out of date. This has been quite therapeutic as well as thought provoking. If what I’ve discovered in my physical cupboards is a picture of what I keep in my emotional, physical, and spiritual cupboards. I need a declutter and sort.
I’m asking myself the following questions: What am I holding on to that is out of date? What is no longer of value? Do I have gold hidden beneath the dross of the irrelevant? I suppose it has prompted a spiritual, emotional, and physical health check.
Let’s start with the physical. I am walking and using my exercise bike regularly to build up stamina. Along with the physiotherapy exercises, I’m eating well and drinking my water. This week I had my hair cut; it had been a year. The hairdresser commented on what good condition it was in, all things considered. A couple of weeks ago I had a spa day with my daughter. This day was a real gift. At the last minute, the Spa cancelled my daughters’ treatments, so gave us full use of the Spa facilities all day for free. Result! So, the physical is being taken care of, but it’s a work in progress.
Ok let’s look at the spiritual and emotional as they tend to be entwined. In Proverbs we read: ‘A cheerful heart is good medicine’ (Proverbs 17:22) and ‘A happy heart makes the face cheerful (Proverbs 15:13). I can attest to their truth after spending time with good, life-giving friends. We had the pleasure of reconnecting with some friends from years back and it has been so good to have that depth of knowing and understanding. It is pure gold as the friendship has been purified and tested over time.
To remain emotionally healthy, I have found it in my best interest to keep short accounts. I’m talking about keeping myself accountable for any offenses, hurts, slights, or unkindness. It is my responsibility to process and deal with those things. Truthfully, I’m not always good at it but for my own health I’m working on getting better and I have friends who keep me accountable. Recently I met someone for the first time and as our conversation progressed, they asked if I was retired. Well, I was so taken aback, and it went deeper than it should have done. It played on my mind for a few days. So, I messaged a couple of friends who I knew would be honest with me and asked their opinion, ‘Did I look old enough to be retired? I was asking myself whether I should start to dye my hair again. My mind really went through a loop. One friend replied, ‘Definitely not’ with an emoji. Another reminded me of our conversation not a week before when someone had made a comment about their age, reflecting my own words back at me. This had me chuckling to myself all afternoon. I realised how silly I had been to get so backwards about a thoughtless comment. That was rather a trivial example, but it shows how we can get blindsided when we least expect it.
Finally spiritual health. We all know what everyone thinks we should be doing: going to church, reading our bibles, sung worship and prayer. Apparently, this is the gold standard and if we fall short then we seem to have failed. But does this make me spiritually healthy or just religious? I can tick those boxes but unless I go deeper into a relationship, and invite the Holy Spirit to sift and cleanse, I can hold on to the old and used and miss out on the new and useful. If we allow the dross to be removed, we can find the gold. It is easy to stay in the comfort of the known and do what has been done before because it works. But we are in an ever-changing world that needs our creativity and light. There are new ways of working, new technologies and new thinking. Biblical truth is unchanging but the way we communicate must change without diluting it. To remain spiritually healthy is to remain in relationship with Jesus (John 15:5).
Keeping ourselves fit for purpose is literally the phrase, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” made famous by John Wesley in 1778. We can keep ourselves healthy in mind, body, and spirit, ‘His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him [Jesus]’ (2 Peter 1:3). Like my cupboards it takes time, effort, and being surprisingly honest. I am having to be brutally honest and ask myself, do I really need to keep this or that. But having cleared much of the dross I am finding the gold in both myself and my cupboards. In myself I am finding my creativity again and freedom from other people’s rubbish that I have carried. Let me encourage you, don’t leave it until spring to have a physical, emotional, and spiritual clear out, start now!
Featured photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
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