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What if the way we make decisions is equally as important as the decisions we make?
we all have regular, seasonal input of stuff into our homes that comes by way of gifts, school papers, work projects, and various decorations depending on the celebration, but we don’t often have regular output. As a result, the clutter builds up inside our houses. In a similar way, our soul receives frequent input with infrequent output.
it’s not enough to just declutter; we have to de-own.
Becoming a soul minimalist does not mean that you should hold on to nothing but rather that nothing should have a hold on you.
Stillness is to my soul as decluttering is to my home. Silence and stillness are how I sift through the day’s input.
“You are loved with an everlasting love and underneath are the everlasting arms.”
Logic and limits often get in the way of longing. And longing is key to our growth.
you are a beginner. There’s nothing that insults our capable ego like realizing this.
New beginnings are usually welcome. But being a beginner? Not so much. We want our circumstances to change, to start again, to be brand-new. But when they change, we often don’t give ourselves permission to be new within them. Instead, we want to rush ahead to mastery.
new beginning! Right on. But me, a beginner? No, thank you.
If you are newly engaged or newly pregnant, or if you are a new stepparent or just moved into a new house, you are grateful for the new role that you have and maybe you’re excited about the future. But there’s a lot you don’t yet know, and there isn’t a handbook to teach you.
When we enter a new beginning, we have generally also experienced some kind of ending that comes with layered emotions and experiences of grief, transition, and letting go. Don’t be afraid to be a beginner. Be relentlessly kind to yourself. What if this is your next right thing?
Admitting those areas in your life where you are a beginner is an important part of your decision-making process, because otherwise you may find yourself making decisions in order to avoid looking dumb or feeling foolish, or to save face.
These are terrible things to base your decisions on. Maybe today, your next right thing is to stay quiet when your instinct wants to speak out. It could mean asking a question rather than faking your way through. Maybe you are being invited to wait until you have more information, to move even if it feels like a risk, or to say those three words you don’t feel comfortable saying: “I don’t know.”
Rather than becoming an expert, children are free to be curious. Children are able to sit down and let other people know things for a change. Children are able to observe, to watch, to make mistakes, and to learn new things.
Embrace this unique time of being a beginner. Let him teach you what is right, what to say, and how to think. There will come a time when this new beginning will not be new anymore, and you may not feel the need for him as you do now. So let this new role teach you what it has to teach you. Let it form you into the likeness of Christ. Let yourself be a beginner and receive all the gifts beginning has to give.
Fear works both ways, keeping you from doing things you might want to do and convincing you that you have to do things you don’t want to do.
“There may be a lot of reasons for you to say no
don’t let fear be one of them.”
Am I being led by love or pushed by fear?
We can’t prevent storms from coming, but we can decide not to invent our own.
Knowing what she wanted was important, but knowing what she wanted more helped her to take her next right step.
Make no mistake—denying your desire is also an answer, and that will determine your next step too. If you don’t take the time to admit what you most long for, decisions will still need to be made. But instead of stepping forward in self-awareness, you’ll base your decisions on other outward things like expectations, habit, or some other kind of external pressure.
Desire is only toxic when we demand our desires be satisfied on our terms and in our timing. Knowing what we want and getting what we want are not necessarily the same thing.
