Have you ever had a moment where you know it is time to get rid of the old?
I stood in my studio and breathed deeply at the sheer overwhelmedness of it all. The books were falling off the shelves and the papers were knee deep. Little bits and bobs that held no home in my heart but a whole heap of shoulds on their shoulders.
Piece by piece, weighted responsibility after responsibility I sorted through the chaos looking for silence. This room seemed to hold the remnants of the last year of our life. From receipts to cookbooks, manuscript leftovers and presents left homeless.
In the midst of this cleanse, I felt so overwhelmed that I lay on our couch with my husband trying to convince me of the purpose of letting go. Embracing slow is a noble notion of clearing space for light and love but without releasing the old I am not sure it is truly possible.
If we keep doing the same we have always done expecting a different outcome then that is insanity. However when it comes to the pace of our lifestyle and the opportunities we are seeking for silence and recreation unless we edit out our life it is impossible.
Unless we strategically place limitations on what we give our time to and carve space for the new, we will stay in the same holding pattern of yesterday. As I carried box load after box load of treasures to the op shop my heart was heaving at the awkwardness of letting go.
I discovered vinyl records that I have not played for years underneath the rubble and they reminded me of moments from long ago when I dreamed of being in the place I am in fact today. This slowing of time to remember was powerful because I realised that I had grown and gathered. I had overcome and reinvented.
I walked around my studio and stood amongst the light and space finding a painting standing in the corner that had not been on my wall in over a decade. I picked it up and hung it above my desk seeing the words from Exodus 15: 1-3
“I will sing to the Lord for He is mighty exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him my father’s God. I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior, the lord is his name”
This was a song that Miriam sang as she remembered the powerful deliverance of her people with miracles that were in motion. There was something powerful from this story of movement and deliverance, letting go and beginning again that reminded me in a moment of the power of perspective.
There is a ritual awaiting you in the midst of the slow. Clearing space to find clarity often amongst the rubble of seasons of unmet expectations.
When was the last time you reinvented the space you exist in every day?
What about a cathartic releasing of the old to create space for the new?
Embracing slow is a season of letting go and honouring the present moment we sit within. Breathing deeply, releasing forgiveness to others and ourselves, discovering hidden memories from our past that remind us deeply of how far we have come.
Dear Jesus,
Help me to surrender to the rhythm of the old and create space for the new. Give me the wisdom to know what I need to let go of and the courage to step into the new. When I look back over the waters we have travelled together, help me to see the power of your presence no matter the darkness of the season. Slow me, Oh Lord, so I can see the miracle that is in motion and help me to surrender to the awkwardness of trusting you above all.
Tenderly,
Amen
