Wearing thin

I tend to hold on to things, sometimes long past when they should be released! I started on a mission last spring to declutter and simplify our home, and I made excellent progress but that back room still haunts me.  I keep the door shut, we don't have any holiday guests coming so it's easy to ignore.  I know there are many things stacked in that room that just need to go. It's much more pleasant right now to just sit here in the living room, enjoying a nice fire on another cold morning and taking that first sip of coffee.......ah.

I'm also a 'barefoot' kind of gal.  In the summer I rarely have shoes on and in the winter, though I do have nice slippers, I pad around in socks.  Our entire home is covered in tile flooring and though we do have some area rugs, ceramic tile is chilly on the feet! This morning as I got up and didn't want to rummage around in the quiet bedroom looking for my slippers I just grabbed the socks I had on yesterday and came out to start the fire. These are some favorite socks, boot socks with a nice thick middle section (at least they used to be). As I pulled them on I noticed a little too much stretch in the foot -

Oh darn, they are starting to wear out!  It always surprises me how one day something seems just fine and all of a sudden it is wearing out, breaking, or one of the stacks near my 'nest' is about to topple over (like now!).  Things just pile up, start to break,  gather on a table until one day it is either a big mess or like my sock-  worn thin.  Do you notice that your spiritual self can do that same thing? Days will be going along, troubles or temptations come yet we breeze right through them.  The very next day we may face a similar situation yet it brings us to our knees, we are simply worn too thin to take on another thing. We stretch, we try to hang on and all we can do is watch as the fragile threads of our emotions give way and we are left with a hole.  What do you do when the 'holes' appear? How are you handling the stresses of this last week before Christmas? Do you have a list that seems to be too long and the joy of the season is giving way to frustration? What better time than now to continue to ask yourself "why Jesus?"  Don't wait until the threads all completely break inside of you, weave the message of God into your heart now.  Take some time to sit with Him and reflect on WHY you are stretched so thin. The minutes are going to pass and the day will progress as usual, but how you react to what occurs is up to you.  Since I get up and write these ramblings first thing, before I do anything else, I make myself think about God and I ask myself every day "why Jesus?"  I may walk away from this computer and my messy nest and completely come unraveled but I have a better chance of muddling through things when I start my day with God.  I do wear thin, but He mends things back together.  I look at things differently when I look through 'god-eyes'.  

1 Corinthians 10:13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

It's a proven fact that when people are stressed, tired, 'worn thin' they are more inclined to give in to negative temptation and behavior.  The statistics of addictions of various sorts support that fact. Many people find it is easier to eat the gallon of ice cream, drink til the bottle is empty, or engage in inappropriate behavior than face the stress or disappointment. Too few will turn to God to fill the hole.  I answered the "why Jesus" question a very long time ago, yet it is a constant struggle to keep listening and allowing God to be my guide. I wear thin and sometimes the hole gets really big, but God is bigger.  This morning as I pulled on these socks and noticed one wearing thin i knew I had to take action - they won't go in the laundry they will be thrown away.  It wasn't that thin sock that made me decide - as I pulled on the other sock I noticed this:

The other matching sock was already worn through, in two places!  How could I not have noticed that yesterday when I wore them?  How did those holes just magically appear overnight?!  Isn't life like that though?  We go along and we notice weak spots or seem stretched to the limit, then things just give way.  I have other socks, or I could just wear these worn out socks and then have irritated feet when I wear my boots.  I choose to get rid of them.  To put on the new, let go of the old and worn.  Kind of like each day with God - I recognize the 'holes' that have formed and I let Him darn them up, or if they are just too big I throw those things away to Him and start new.  Jesus came so we could start new - that is why I said yes to the "why Jesus" question.  How about you?