Delayed Decisions

     I must confess, I am a mess maker! My creative juices will get going and I'll start a project with the enthusiasm of a puppy in a newly planted flower bed, but either when I've finished the fun part or get stuck on what to do next, my project mirrors the end result of a puppy in a flower bed. So a few weeks ago my husband brought me an article from the newspaper. I always know when he presents me with a section of the paper it's going to be about political education issues (we're former educators), humor (usually at my expense:), travel, or things I've said I'm trying to improve on (and he concurs) yet haven't conquered.
     This particular article was on clutter. Now don't picture my house as a sequel to a hoarders show, as that is not the case, but I do have hot zones. My current hot zone is the guest bed. I was going to organize my writing magazines, drafts and folders, so I dumped them on the bed, where they have been for over a month! Now a guest is coming and I considered tossing them back into the drawer they came from, but this would be the third time I used that particular technique. The author quoted in the clutter article, (which I apologize to her as I tore the article haphazardly out of the paper and only have her last name intact), Steill says, "Clutter is delayed decisions."
     "Clutter is delayed decisions" may seem like a "duh" moment to most of you, but for me it was a breakthrough! I can't make a decision so I do nothing at all. That reminded me of the study in James that I am currently studying with Beth Moore. For many years I'd read in the Bible about the "double-minded" person, but that idea never solidified for me. Yet on pages 50-51 of the study guide Moore clarified this by beginning with the following: "Psalm 12:2 They lie to one another, they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts. 'Deception' (NIV) or 'deceptive hearts' (HCSB) in Hebrew is literally 'with heart and heart' or what the King James Version calls 'a double heart.'...First Chronicles 12:33 offers the perfect antonym with the NIV phrase 'undivided loyalty.' It literally means the reverse: 'not with heart and heart.'...It means we quit tossing this way and that, backstroking toward God one minute and dog-paddling for the world the next."
     Moore goes on to say, "What happens if we chuck all this single-mindedness and wholeheartedness for the natural life of duplicity? We get the grand prize: a life of instability. A double-minded man 'is unstable in all his ways' (Jas. 1:8, KJV)...Isaiah 33:6...'He (God) is your constant source of stability.'...Maybe today is a day for making up our minds in a personal area where we battle duplicity (double-mindedness)...Our God is for us even when He confronts us (regarding our sin)."
     I'm beginning my battle with the guest bed:) KT

My dog is the only one that appreciates my messes:)

     James 1:6 "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."