Dark Rooms

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Now that it's spring and the trees have all their leaves, my kitchen is dark most of the day. We have a large maple tree in the backyard and a small woods behind our house that block out the sunshine.

This morning I idly thought, "Most homes have dark rooms." Then I thought, "Most hearts have dark rooms too."

What are the dark rooms in your heart, the places you don't want anyone else to see? These could be sad, traumatic, hurtful, or painful experiences that still ache too much to share with anyone.

They could also be dark thoughts, those places of sin we desire to hide. Would anyone still love us if they could see into those dark rooms? Envy, greed, anger, pride, judgment, lust, just a few of the dark rooms of the heart.

As believers, we know light and darkness cannot exist in the same place. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit (and we are), how can we reconcile the existence of light and darkness in our hearts? We are not fooling God. He knows all about the dark places within, but yet we still try to hide those secret little rooms inside of us.

It seems our dark rooms constantly need to be discovered and broken open. The doors and windows must be opened to let in the light of God's love and forgiveness and let in the fresh, clean breeze of the Holy Spirit to blow away that which is wrong within us. God won't force the locks, we have to willingly open the doors ourselves so He can enter and clean out the dark rooms in our hearts.

Some of my dark rooms have rusty hinges because I have kept them locked tight for too long. It might be time to get some spiritual WD 40 to loosen the hinges so the Lord can go in and do His work letting light into my dark rooms.

Okay, I am aware that it is Saturday, but I couldn't seem to find 5 minutes to think quietly yesterday, let alone write, so I'm fudging a bit and doing a 5 minute Saturday.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back to 5 minute Friday and invite others to join in.
3. Most important: visit, comment, encourage the person before you.

Open…

Open mind, open home, open heart, perhaps this is the Lord's message for me as 2012 dawns in just a few hours.  I am not a resolution maker because I know I'm in need of improvement all year long.  But I do like the idea of a fresh start, a new beginning, a new work in my life.  

Maybe being open, honest, giving, transparent, real, hospitable, forgiving, understanding are all areas that need to open up in my life.  It is easy to become like a little walled-in fortress protecting ourselves from the slings and arrows life and other people throw at us.  I don't like to be vulnerable, out of control.

But if I really want to open up my life and heart to others I need to be willing to be hurt and rejected too.  I need to be open to God's plans and be willing to take risks even at the risk of falling flat on my face and failing.

So maybe I do have a resolution for 2012; I will try to be open.