28 Feb Are You Ready to Let Go, or Not?
I am the mom of a 10-year-old daughter. Lately I’ve noticed that she wants to be more independent and have more responsibility, but she also still loves her stuffed animals, toys, and playing make-believe with her friends and her little brother.
I recently asked her if she was ready to put her dollhouse up in the attic. She rarely plays with it, and it’s actually sitting on the floor right next to the door of her bedroom. I trip over it at least once a week. It’s not serving any purpose and it’s taking up a lot of valuable space in her bedroom. This dollhouse is a perfect metaphor for something we no longer need or use, but we’re not emotionally ready to let go of it in order to make space for new things in our lives.
What are you holding onto that you no longer need or use, but emotionally, you just won’t let it go? It could be a bad habit or it could be something of material value.
What would happen if we took an inventory of our lives, and were honest with ourselves about what we we’re doing, saying, or keeping that’s no longer serving us well? What if we got rid of clutter in our lives to make room for more of what God wants to use to bless us? Rest assured, I’m talking to myself just as much as I am to you today.
A friend told me one time that she keeps a bag of M&M candies in her car just in case she “needs it.” In reality, the candy is sabotaging her efforts to eat healthier. When she’s hungry in the afternoons and most susceptible to making a bad food choice, the candy is right there waiting for her in the car. In reality, she does not need M&M candies; but she keeps it around anyway because she’s just not ready to give up her candy habit. What would happen long-term if she replaced those M&Ms in her car with a healthier alternative? How would her health improve?
The same principle applies to our personal finances. We have to make a conscious decision to make good choices, over and over again. Part of being wise stewards with our finances is letting go of things, or habits, that no longer serve us well. We can continue to buy things we don’t really need to fill a void in our souls, or we can stop and prayerfully consider a purchase BEFORE we actually head to the cash register.
Ultimately, we all desperately need wisdom to determine what is the highest and best use of the resources God has given to us. I want to encourage you today to stop making decisions regarding your personal finances and then ask God to bless it. Instead, prayerfully ask God to give you wisdom and then move forward as you are led. This simple, purposeful exercise could radically change both your well-being and your personal finances. #FaithfulFinance
1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.