Where does Mental Clutter come from? ..... our senses, seeing, hearing, touch, taste & smell. My belief is the majority of it first comes from an overload of technology. Our brains were not made for this level of input, and sooner or later like and overloaded outlet our brain trips the breaker and out goes the lights ...... secondly it comes from "too many irons in the fire" ... too much drama, involved in too many things, wrong attitudes and concepts that "they need me and can't do without me" and a self proclaimed image of who we think we are that is false.
Romans 8:5-6 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Nehemiah 9:17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that You did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
Over the last several months due to and through a series of "happenings" I have been forced to face the clutter that has overtaken my thoughts & life, spread like a cancer unaware in my mind and emotions and has been squeezing the life out of me. ......... It is these thoughts, attitudes and concepts I am going to address. Where to begin is very difficult seeing how these ideas, thoughts, attitudes and concepts have been developing for years & decades I dare say. So I will start with a currently exposed attitude and go from there ......... I am going to give some of the ideas, thoughts, attitudes, and concepts I am dealing with a name ......... it will help me as I discuss them ......
1 Chronicles 16:15 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;
#1) Scar Tissue ...... Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
I will start with this one ...... from birth we are exposed to various sensory inputs into our ears, eyes, smell, & all our senses ...... As we become more aware of life in general some of us develop a "thickening attitude" skin, some of us a inherit "thinning attitude" skin. Some of us learn as time rolls on to let things "roll off our back like water off a ducks back in a rain storm. Others seem to absorb the storms that life sometimes throw their way and become warped and distorted in the way they think. Then there is those of us who have "Middler's skin" these are those of us who have some "thicker emotional skin" areas and then some thinner skinned areas ...... I tend to be a "Middler" I can take hurt and pain from "certain others" & find I am very susceptible to some ...... especially family ...... as funny as it seems I can endure the same thing from both a non-attached person and a attached person ...... the attached person hurts.
#2) Calloused Position .... Hebrews 5:10-12 .... v10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. v11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. v12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
This is a state of existence where we have been rubbed, endured, heard the "same old ... same old" so much we build up a tolerance or a lack of tolerance to certain and varying situations in our life. We have a thick thick attitude in that area. This can be any thought pattern, idea, ideal, motive or concept that we batten down the hatch, concrete in and build a bunker around it to protect it or ignore it. I tend to have done this to my "Junk Mentality" (This is physical stuff and mental stuff too)..... some have made a fortune calling it "HOARDING" ..... I just call it my mess of a collection ... I can walk by this "stuff" day in and day out and not even notice it ..... Do i lose my sight of the real issues with all this clutter? absolutely ..... is this a behind closed doors issue? not in the least!
#3) Not Me! James 1:22 But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. v23 For if any be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror; v24 for he beholds himself, and then goes his way and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. v25 But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Now this may sound a bit childish but there are certian things I have come to realize I have just plain said "Not Me"!!! ..... when the real truth is "ITS ME!!" SIGH!! I don't want to see the glaring truth of the matter. ..... During one of my morning conversations with God recently .... I was exploring why I have a bad attitude in some areas ..... I heard the word "FEAR" .... my response? "NOT ME!" ..... I'm not afraid of nothin ..... and slowly as only Abba Father can do ..... showed me my fears in such a way I sat there dumbfounded for a bit as the concept of "I'm Afraid" sunk in. How can being afraid or having "Fears" cause me to wander so far into this area of mental clutter? .....
#4) My Inner Child .... this concept has been used by others, but I can't think of another term for it so I hope I'm not infringing on any copyright issues here. I am using "My" as a first person account. .... Growing up poor (which I wasn't aware I was till much later in life) created some difficulties for me as a child that I didn't have a clue could cause any problems Secondly growing up the eldest of 4 kids had some cause and effects too ..... and to be honest I really didn't have a whole lot of childhood friends ..... from birth to about 11 years of age literally there were no solid friendships or attachments created. There were children across the street, down the street, around the corner and on the other side of the block, the majority of them lived in "their own homes"(we lived in a "tenant house" that belonged to the village) My father was employed by the village as a "Jack of All Trade's Handyman & Garbage Collector ..... This atmosphere caused .... for a better term to set the stage for adults @ that time & era to allow their children to associate with me but not enought to rub off on their kids .... this created in me the desire to have people like me, it also created in me a "Justice System" because when things went wrong, something was broken or something happened while being allowed to play for short periods of time at the neighbor children's homes I was always blamed, due to home life and being the eldest child I already spent time being blamed for my younger siblings errors so I had developed a "thick skin" to being blamed and would quietly take the rap. ..... So in me raged the desire to be liked and my "Justice System"which often prevented me from having friends because I tended to stay away from unkind (unjust) people. ..... So I found another way .... I developed talents that were "needed" ..... but most of all I developed the "Loner" mentality ..... and put a wall up to protect my self.
OK what does all this have to do with the "Clutter Mentality? ...... We can accumulate bad ideas, attitudes, bad ideals, bad concepts and bad motives before we even know they exist. .... NO this isn't a blame my parents, siblings, neighbors, and the world I was in for all my short comings .... this is to allow a peek into my world as I saw it as a child, and what developed from these views I had of life into my adulthood. I allowed this CLUTTER MENTALITY ...... now as I walk on my journey in this life I am documenting my awakening and my walk to DECLUTTER some things and do some "HOUSE CLEANING" ..... mentally and physically. James 1: 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
v2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,
v3 knowing this: that the trying of your faith works patience.
v4 But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
v5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally and upbraids not, and it shall be given him.
v6 But let him ask in faith, never wavering; for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
v7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
v8 A doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways.
v9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,
v10 but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
v11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass, and the flower thereof falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
v12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to those who love Him.
v13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.
v14 But every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.
v15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
v16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
v17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
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