Out With the Old, in With the New

“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Accumulated stuff clogs my mind in a way that’s not good for business. Looking with fresh eyes to the new year helps me see my surroundings in a fresh way—and it’s not always pretty.

When I get too busy (that is, when I fall into the trap of expecting too much of myself), I put off finding a place for things that “I’ll deal with later.” Then, I start filtering them out of my vision—like the pile of paper that’s been looking at me accusingly since September.

The Tipping Point

A month ago, we had the carpet replaced downstairs. A lot of downstairs boxes, chairs, and artwork are still upstairs in my office, and I’ve been walking around it. Disorder in my environment causes messiness in my mind and anxiety in my soul. This unsettled feeling leads me to pace around, overthink my to-do list, or get a snack instead of productively using 10 minutes between meetings to return a client’s call.

This morning, I tackled folders in my file cabinet. I won’t say it’s been a while, but I found some emails I had printed out in 2004 and an instruction manual from three laptops ago.

I love getting rid of things … when I get around to it. Clearing the decks frees up my mind to receive new inspiration, and pitching things that aren’t useful anymore makes life seem less complicated.

Mental Files

Clearing away decades-old class notes and craft projects from the dawn of the millennium can also prompt us to consider what resentments we’ve filed away—because they were never useful.

Maybe we’re “stepping around them,” like a box of old magazines, without even seeing them. All the while, they’re eating away at our peace and clogging our vision of Christ.

A priest once said that the biggest obstacle to spiritual growth is lack of forgiveness. Is there someone we’ve been wishing for years would change to suit our expectations? Who always has to be right or routinely fails to do what she’s promised?

My friend Carmie has a great way of avoiding frustration with people. For example, when I complained to her about a mutual club member’s behavior, she said, “That’s just what she does.” At that moment, I realized that forgiveness has a lot to do with not taking what others do personally. We can forgive small offenses in the moment and get on with our lives.

A late friend named Milton, who was 80 when I met him, often said, “I take people as they are, Rose … I take ’em as they are.” He meant that he didn’t consider it his business to fix people—and that he didn’t let his happiness depend on what others did. He forgave them in the moment of offense.

That’s as good a New Year’s resolution as I can think of: to ask for the grace to take people as they are. It probably starts with forgiving ourselves and with realizing that, like a box of college notebooks, a grudge takes up space and impedes our freedom to move toward Christ’s promise to “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).