Sorting Through the Mail

Every day I walk down to the end of my driveway and get the mail. Sometimes there is just junk waiting for me. Other times there is stuff that is really important. But most of the time it is a mixture of the two--typically with a 90/10 ratio in favor of the junk. So every day I walk down to the end of my driveway and retrieve the mail and every day I sort through the mail to find the 10% that is truly important. And while most of the important stuff is bills, it is always great to receive a fun package or handwritten letter.

Taking inventory of our thoughts and feelings is kind of like sorting through the mail. Many of the thoughts and feelings we have are random and rather unimportant. They can be quickly discarded and tossed aside just as you would a piece of junk mail. But other thoughts and feelings that we have are actually quite important. They shouldn't be carelessly discarded or tossed aside, but rather, carefully attended to with a proper amount of reflection. The problem that many of us have is that we don't regularly sort through the mail. We don't take inventory of our thoughts and feelings on a regular basis. And so unaddressed thoughts and feelings, often connected to specific experiences or events in our lives, pile up higher and higher like a stack of mail after a two-week vacation. Just as failing to pay your bills has disastrous consequences, so also does failing to take inventory of your thoughts and feelings. The accumulation of unaddressed thoughts and feelings has a way of cluttering life. And, if we are honest, most of us have a fair amount of clutter. Not only do we have clutter from our past that we haven't yet dealt with, but we have a hard time keeping up with the clutter accumulating in the present. We all got some unopened mail.

All of this points to the importance of cultivating a deeper awareness of our inner life--our thoughts and feelings. But this emphasis on inner awareness is not because thoughts and feelings should be trusted. I think you will find that thoughts and feelings can be quite misleading. The reason why we need to learn how to better attend to our inner life is that God often uses them as an entry-point to get our attention for areas in our life that require growth. So the tinge of anxiety you feel when you wake up in the morning may reflect an area of your life that you are not fully entrusting to God. The judgmental thoughts that pass through your brain may reflect an attitude of self-righteousness that needs to be eliminated. The joy and excitement you felt at a particular moment might be signaling how God wants to use you for the kingdom. Taking consistent inventory of our inner life--our thoughts and feelings--is not about being narcissistically self-absorbed. It is about being aware of what is going inside of you. And it is about knowing how what is going on inside of you is shaping how you relate to what is going on outside of you. Inner life inventory is about transformation--the transformation of your heart such that you are better able to love God others in the way of Jesus Christ.

"Above all else, tend to your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

-- Prov. 4:23

I first encountered this whole idea of sorting through the mail of my inner life in a workbook called Undivided. And I have to tell you that I have been shocked at what I have found--both good and bad. As I have carved out some intentional space to open the unopened mail in my life, I have been challenged to get rid of some clutter. And the more clutter I get rid of, the more free I find myself to simply live in love.