Taking out the Trash…#reverb10

I could seriously use some regularly scheduled reflection in my life, so even though I am late to the party, I’m joining in.

Today’s prompt:

What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

It’s a good question.  It actually takes me back to the lectionary gospel passage from last Sunday and the announcement of John the Baptist.

“I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” (The Message)

Everything false, Christ will put out with the trash.  He’s making a clean sweep. Watch out clutter and mistakes and useless things.  Your time is up.

What is it in my life that needs to be cleaned out?  What can I metaphorically put out with the trash or send to the curb with the recycling?

1) Whining:  I am a whiner.  Not to most people… mostly just to my husband.  I whine about things when they aren’t going my way.  I’m going to stop.  I’m going to start appreciating what I have and not complain so much when things are tough. Lots of prayers for the fruits of the spirit to sprout in my life… a little patience, gentleness, kindness, joy, and self-control would help. Get to work Holy Spirit!

2) Grocery Shopping Hungry: I make poor food choices when I go grocery shopping when I am hungry.  I am going to work on creating a list of meals for the week and buying the appropriate food items. No more wasting money on the celery that we won’t really eat and will just go bad in the fridge.

3) The Weekly Planner on my fridge:  We don’t use it.  It takes up the whole freaking fridge. Why have something that isn’t helping?  That’s just mocking me for not doing the work to plan.

4) Baby pressure:  I just want the baby pressure to go away.  I want the questions about when and if and how soon to stop. I want my own internal biological clock to quit ticking for a bit.  I’m not sure how to get rid of it… but my life could be a bit more focused if it wasn’t around. Maybe if I simply learn to delight in other’s children and pregnancies and stop worrying so much about my own.

6) Lying: I think my number one biggest temptation for sin is fibbing.  Telling a little half-truth so that I don’t hurt someone or so that I can get away with something.  We all have our weaknesses and this is mine.  My life doesn’t need it anymore.  It makes everything so much harder in the long run and it hurts people.  And it feels crappy.  No more lying in 2011… okay?

7) Days spent watching food network or any other channel for that matter: On my days off, I tend to plop down and watch silly television.  I’m not really going to cook most of that food.  There is awesome music in the world to listen to.  I could use the time to knit/crochet, write, read (which I definitely need to do more of), instead of filling my head with food and silly stories.

9) Hesitation: I am a waffler.  I hesitate sometimes because I take the time to think about all of the angles and possibilities and how everyone will feel about a decision.  But most of the time, I hesitate because I doubt myself.  I’m going to stop hesitating and just trust myself more next year.

11) Days without prayer and stillness:I let too many days start without stopping to rest in God.  In 2011 – my days will all begin in prayer and stillness.