Decorate, declutter, zone. I do something small – like cleaning the gilded frame on Grandma’s mirror. Sometimes, I move something or paint it.

The biggest improvements are from decluttering. Yesterday, I took the first step decluttering my candle collection.

I started this collection before Y2K. (Computers showed the date as 19 _ _. You could only fill in the last two numbers. Would it crash on 1-1-2000?)

They feared food would not be delivered, gas unavailable. I bought a month’s supply of food and collected candles. I figured we would live in our basement – by candlelight – eating canned meals.

Nothing happened. We had “can night” once a week for months.

I store my candles by size. Each month I had to get out all the boxes to get the color I wanted to use. I decided to box them up by color. (It surprised me to find: tangerine, plum, orchid, lavender, mint, salmon, peach, and a box of teal candles. I don’t decorate with those colors!)

They covered my dining room table and I threw away exactly 3 candles – without wicks. Why am I hanging on to them? Fear of disaster? The fear I can’t replace them? Overwhelmed, I decided to have David go through them with me later.

I went upstairs to work in my zone – the bathroom. I systematically work my way through the house deep cleaning. I opened the door to the medicine cabinet and a tube of lipstick rolled out.

I don’t wear lipstick!

I got out my makeup bags – yes, 2 of them – and the loose makeup. I dumped it out and set aside recent purchases. (I think I bought one of these eyeshadow pallets during Y2K!) This stuff is toxic. Why am I keeping it? I threw 90% of it away.

“There will come a time in your life…where the people…and the mentalities they represent will not be an adequate support system for where God is taking you. …as you’re growing into your inheritance, you’re growing out of your past. And when you start outgrowing it, you’ve got to shed some stuff. You’ve got to shed some ways of thinking.” “Maybe You’re Just Outgrowing It,” 1 Min Motivation, Steven Furtick

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Romans 12:1-2, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. (2) Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” The Message

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Romans 10:9-10, “…You’re not ‘doing’ anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting Him to do it for you. That’s salvation. (10) With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: ‘God has set everything right between Him and me!’ ” The Message

* * * * * * *

Romans 10:3, “They don’t seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God’s business…” The Message

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Romans 10:6, “But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story…” The Message

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Romans 10:8, “…It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us.” The Message

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Romans 12:5, “So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.” The Message

We want to develop the gifts God has given us. Sometimes we have to let go of toxic things to accomplish that.

Romans 11:29, “God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty – never canceled, never rescinded.” The Message

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“Thankfully, God never gives what is deserved, but instead, God graciously, passionately offers gifts, our bodies, our time, our very lives. God does not give rights but imparts responsibilities – response-abilities – inviting us to respond to His gifts.” “One Thousand Gifts” Ann Voskamp

Responsible – response-able – able to respond to all things. Flexible. If our friends are irresponsible or toxic we need to seek new ones.

“…be the kind of person that says, ‘I’m gonna be there with you.’ …Oprah says, “Anybody will ride with you in the limousine. What I need is somebody to ride with me when the limousine breaks down, and we gotta take the bus.’ I’m looking for some bus friends! I’m looking for some people who will be by my side when I don’t have anything to give. …” “How to Find Real Friends,” 1 Min Motivation, Steven Furtick

Setting things right from Romans 12:6-21.

1. Preach just God’s Message.
2. Help, don’t take over.
3. Stick to your teaching.
4. Give encouraging guidance; don’t get bossy.
5. Don’t manipulate when you are in charge.
6. Keep your eyes open and quickly aid people in distress.
7. Don’t get irritated or depressed when working with the disadvantaged.
8. Don’t fake love.
9. Run from evil.
10. Cling to good.
11. Be a good, loving friend.
12. Practice playing second fiddle.
13. Keep yourselves fueled and aflame.
14. Be alert servants.
15. Be cheerfully expectant.
16. Don’t quit in hard times.
17. Pray hard.
18. Help needy Christians.
19. Be inventive in your hospitality.
20. Bless your enemies.
21. Laugh when your friends are happy.
22. Cry when they are down.
23. Get along with each other.
24. Don’t be stuck up.
25. Make friends with nobodies.
26. Don’t be the great somebody.
27. Don’t hit back.
28. Discover beauty in everyone.
29. Try to get along with everybody.
30. Don’t insist on getting even.
31. Feed your hungry enemy.
32. Give water to your thirsty enemy.
33. Don’t let evil get the best of you.
34. Overcome evil by doing good.

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