Fresh Coat of Paint

I love to smell paint, I love to walk into a home that smells fresh and clean, and I love to see lines on the carpet.... I like things to look in order!  I'll be the first to admit that I don't want you in my closets or my "more than one" junk drawer in the my kitchen though.... Those are my hiding places for all the times I'm trying to make the outside look good.... but I can't rest easy because I know those drawers and closets are always there.  Every once in awhile I break down and clean them out, and it feels SO GOOD!  That takes a little time, a little extra effort, and a mood to throw things away.  I have to be willing to part with things!

So what does this have to do with Christmas?  Well... in order for us to be able to have a "stable" foundation, we have to work from the inside out....

Matthew 23:27-28 says, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." 

GUILTY!  I've spent a lot of my life trying to make others happy... trying to make others like me... trying to make others think that life is perfect.  But... what I've come to realize is it isn't.  There is no amount of paint, or money, or work that is going to clean my insides.  Sure, we all want to look like we have it together and are doing life just fine, but in all honesty, God doesn't use those people to make a big difference in someone else's life.  I believe that God wants us to talk about our struggles, our fears, our anxieties with others to show them that they can rely on him.  It's hard to sit across from someone and listen to a discussion about how perfect everything is in their life... part of me immediately thinks about all their faults that I know about... and part of me feels sorry for them because they aren't being truthful.  In my old age... of 47....I've found that there isn't one family who doesn't struggle... there isn't one parent who hasn't been disappointed in their children... there isn't one wife who hasn't wanted to choke her husband at one point or another... there isn't one friend who hasn't been hurt by words of another friend... and there isn't one churchgoer who hasn't been upset at another churchgoer!  I could go on and on about all the things in life that hurt us on the inside... and how we continue to smile and act like things are great on the outside.

In the early years of Facebook, I have Timehop to remind me of this, I think I posted about every hour of my day.... I guess I wanted to share my every thought and what was going on in my life with others... as I look back, I realized that I was posting about what I wanted my life to be like.  As the years have gone by, I have used my blog to post about my real feelings.  I have used my words to show my thoughts... good and bad.... my feelings.... happy and disappointed... my actions... appropriate and inappropriate to show the true me.  I think we all want to appear one way... but if something is bothering us... we need to be honest and open about it.  Unfortunately, some people think Facebook is the place to be honest and open about it.  My view on that has changed.

Find that one person to be honest and open about what is going on in your life.... it is cleansing and renewing... I have several good friends that I can call at the drop of a hat and just have "diarrhea of the mouth"... when I get finished spewing and saying my peace.... it's over.  They listen... they give advice... they disagree with me... they pray for me... whatever the case... I don't advertise on Facebook what it is!

Today- your outside may be as clean and straight as the whitewashed board in the picture above, but what do your insides look like?  Do you have healthy thoughts coming from your mouth... or negative?  Do you have jealousy and anger inside, or are you at peace because you have prayed for those things to go away?  Do you have something you probably need to get out of / off your heart... do you need to tell someone you are sorry for something?  Do you need to confess a sin to someone?

The reality is this... if you don't work on the insides of your life before you paint the outsides... you aren't doing any good at all.  You won't be "stable"... you won't be ready for Jesus to be inside you because you don't have "room in the inn" for him.  In order to be "stable"... you are going to have to make some changes.

Pray that hatred, anger, jealousy, disappointment, anxiety, regret, etc out of your heart.  Ask God daily to remove it... confess what you are feeling... sometimes it helps to find a confidant to confess what's on your heart and her praying with you makes it all better.  Today, pray for your insides... that you will be clean and refreshed... and the secret to all this...your outsides will naturally fall into place when the inside is clean!