This week as I was reorganizing my closet, I came across my high school shirt that had been signed by my friends.
This shirt had survived an international move, and probably five moves after that. Initially, I wanted to keep it as a reminder of my high school years and then as the years passed, I just couldn’t bring myself to let go of it.
As I’m in a season of reorganizing and letting go of things that no longer serve me, this time as it lay there and I walked by it multiple times a day (it wasn’t linen, so it was time to be out of the linen closet and it wasn’t clothes to be worn, so it didn’t belong there either).
It was time to make a decision of what I wanted to do with it. As my friend was helping to put up my coat rack, I explained my dilemma. I had no idea what I should be doing with it. It was then I decided to open it and take a walk down memory lane, rereading the words that were written from almost 28 years ago. The words were still as clear as if they’d only been written a couple years prior.
As I read, I realized that the words were filled with teenage sarcasm and hardly any of them were kind. Even the ones that were supposed to be kind, were sandwiched with sarcasm.
It was then that it became clear what to do. I balled it up and threw it in the garbage. The shirt had not served me, yet I had been carrying it around for 28 years.
Then a thought occurred to me: how often do we have words said to us (or we say) that no longer serves us, and yet we carry them around like prized possession?
I realize in this season, I no longer want to carry around the heavy weight of what others think of me. I no longer want to live with words casually tossed out but serve to be sharper than a blade.
The mantra we sang as kids ‘sticks and stones may break our bones but words can’t hurt me’ has been confirmed to be lies. Words hurt, and maybe more so because those are invisible wounds that take longer to heal.
I hope you will join me of letting go of things that no longer serve you. Ball them up and throw them in the trash, literally and figuratively.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you that you are a Father who sings with love over us. Thank you that you do not speak criticisms and harsh words to us. Help us to be recognized when we aren’t being treated the way you intended and help us to be bold enough to make the necessary changes.