A Time to Keep

Ecclesiastes 3:6b (New International Version)
“…a time to keep and a time to throw away,”

A Time to Keep

I have this urge to purge; to clean out the extra in my life; to make room. What is this inner drive to let go, and why is it emerging just as the old year is coming to a close? This is not a conscious decision. It is not a resolution. It is just an urge that comes at a timely place…the closing of a calendar.

This past year has been so difficult that I am glad to see it go. That is significant because I cannot say that about many years in my life. I tend to mourn the passing of a year…I want to keep the old, resist change, and hold on. But this year is different.

Perhaps it is a natural instinct to make room for the new. Maybe it is my spirit responding to the Holy Spirit’s preparation for me in 2009. I wonder what God has for me next.

But I should be careful not to swing to extremes. I should not simply mourn a year’s passing, or rejoice at the coming of the new, but hold them in both hands, pressing them together, experiencing the process of change. The passing of this year for me is both a time to keep and a time to throw away.

Last year brought such deep change in me—foundational shifts in my thinking, I want to keep the good I have learned, trusting my Lord in a deeper way. Last year also brought much pain, fear and doubt. These I want to throw away.

The new year is uncertain, but it doesn’t have to bring fear. I can hope in God, expecting good, even if it means more pain.

So I throw away:
fear,
condemnation,
bondage,
doubt.

And hold onto:
hope,
forgiveness,
freedom,
certainty

Thank you Lord for 2008. I know you are not bound by our calendars, but I am thankful for the new starts you provide for us. Help me to keep what you’ve taught me this past year, throw away the pain, and look hopefully toward 2009.

I love you,

Mindy