Decluttering of the Mind

 My laptop is sooooooo slow... especially in the mornings.  It takes it F O R E V E R to get going.  I guess it's old.  Nobody can really remember when I got it.  Don't get me wrong, it's been a good one, but now that I'm working from home, my need for speed is insatiable!  And this computer is just not cutting it.

Apparently, the main reason for its sluggishness is the fact that I have neglected it a bit.  Some around here say that I had not done the required maintenance.  Therefore, its drive is cluttered with junk...at least this is the layman translation of what those who know what they're talking about think...too much junk.  Well, who knew that a computer's hard drive can be cluttered with junk?  I mean, I know junk.  I'm an expert on junk.  I just didn't know it could be so pervasive that it would even clutter a machine...but, when I think about it...I can understand how the careless accumulation of junk can make anything sluggish.

My desk is full of junk.  It takes me forever to sort through books, papers, DVD cases, water bottles, pens, phone, headphone, remotes and the like to locate what I'm looking for.  My purse if full of junk.  I can't even tell you how long it takes me to find my car keys in that bottomless pit.  And, I won't talk about the junk in my trunk (the literal and the metaphorical)...or the junk in my mind...O boy...that's the dingiest one of all.

Thoughts of fear, anxiety, anger, revenge, gossip, jealousy, envy, materialism, inadequacy, inferiority, superiority, arrogance, pride, self-hate...the list of  "junk thoughts" clutter every nook of my mind making me feel trapped. I'm asphyxiating in the dark because clutter in the mind blocks the space, the air, the light, leaving me unable to move...unable to see...unable to breathe...unable to break free.  It's like I need to do serious maintenance in my brain, but I don't have the tools or the power or the knowledge to accomplish the cleaning needed to function again.  

The good news is we have a Chief of Maintenance better than any "Geek-Squad" who has a mighty powerful "shop vac" in His work van.  He is a Professional, and He can come in and vacuum away all that harmful junk.  And He takes it away!  He doesn't just put it in bags to wait for the garbage truck to come in.  He removes it!  He drives it away so it does not become cluttered again, just in a different shape.  It's gone!  He took it all and continues to take it all with out-stretched arms nailed to the Cross.

He also teaches us how to keep it cleaned too, by helping us not to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind. [So we can] test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

What a blessing!

The same way I don't know how to do maintenance in my laptop, I don't know how to do maintenance in my mind.  But, what I do know is Who Is Able to do it for me.  I just need to make a call.  I just need to make sure I surrender it all to Him on Whose Hands I place my all.

Lord, please, take my mind and make it whole and holy, for only You can accomplish such a task.  In Your Precious Name.  Amen!