The yard
sale signs were staked out in the front yard and were pretty much ready to go.
This was our first, and as it turned out to be, our only yard sale, ever.
As we
prepared for the sale, our little daughter Paige was involved in selecting what
should go. She had a large number of
toys, dolls and games that had accumulated, most of which were no longer of interest to her. We made our
selections and put things out on the table.
The first
lady that came to the sale immediately saw a doll that was laying at the end of
one of the tables. She picked it up and just loved it at first sight. As she
came over to pay, daughter Paige started screaming and crying saying “That’s my
baby doll!! You can’t have it.” Shaking and sobbing, she made a pretty
convincing display of how cruel and thoughtless was her Daddy to let this
happen!!
The lady
put the doll down gently, told us what she thought of parents that would sell
their little child’s doll, expounded on parents that were cruel, thoughtless,
and voiced other descriptors that, fortunately,
have since been forgotten. She then marched
off in a huff. Mark that down as a "No Sale"!!!
It would
have been no use to explain to her that our daughter no longer played with the
doll and had gladly agreed that it should go to a new home. It was too late
anyway. But the lesson was not lost, the
importance of sorting and classifying.
Actually,
a yard sale is excellent practice for determining what kinds of thoughts we are
entertaining. Over the years I have learned that thoughts are really the only
valid part of our living. We live, love, enjoy, prosper or fail or become
discouraged only in our consciousness.
As
a matter of fact, in the Bible, Paul stated it very appropriately. He said,
speaking of God, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Obviously, he wasn’t talking about being in a
material God somewhere in space, he was talking about being the "image and likeness of God", reflecting
Godlike qualities, right here, right now.
I
personally have found it to be quite an adventure, going through the attic of
my thoughts, okay, sometimes the basement too, looking at thoughts and values
to see if they still fit my life, are still useful, are the kind of things I
want to have around in my consciousness., My
wife would prefer that I not keep so many material possessions around, I am the type of
person that hangs on way beyond the useful life of things. And so too, in my
thought, I sometimes hang onto ideas, attitudes and positions outgrown, and thoughts that are not beneficial nor even
wanted,
Join me
as I start sorting.
Okay,
over here is “Love” I sure want to keep that one. And there is Life, Joy and
Happiness, keep them for sure. And over
in the corner, Kindness and Tenderness, I need to get those out and use them
more often.
What’s in those boxes labeled Politics and Human opinion… ahhh, they are filled with “criticism”, “judgment” and “condemnation”. I’ll put those out on
the curb, those aren’t even good for a yard sale and they should just go immediately to
the trash. Look over there, Why are
those things still here, "self justification, self importance, selfishness". I thought I got rid of them long ago, they
are hard to get shake loose. “Bye, Bye. Guys”
This mental
housekeeping is something I should do, every day. Why do I wait for my mental “Yard Sale” day to
go through my thinking to see what is worth keeping.. and what needs to
go?
Next week I will definitely start
examining my thoughts every day. NO
Wait. That’s Procrastination…Tricky little fella! He’s gotta
go too.
Once
again the Bible has the perfect advice. Joshua said: "Choose you THIS DAY whom you will serve.” Joshua 25:15
The world
will love us for it.
4 comments:
Awesome blog...as usual:) Makes me want to take a mental trip to the dump!
Love it! Great reminder that we need to sort and purge thoughts and behaviors, not annually (at yard sale time!) but daily, even hourly! Thanks for sharing. Cheers to mental sorting ~
Thank you!
Love it!! I agree wholeheartedly!!!
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