Friday is garbage day at my house. During the week, we collect trash in the house, carry it out to a bin in the garage, and on Friday we roll the garbage canister down to the curb for the waste truck to pick up at 6:15 AM. It happens every week without fail.
We are grateful for the routine, for it enables us to keep our house clean of all trash.
It occurred to me the other day, that we should be just as faithful in cleaning our thinking of trash on a regular basis as we do our house.
If there is a rotten apple in the refrigerator, I promptly discard it. I do not tolerate rotting food in the kitchen, ever. If there is trash on the floor, I promptly pick it up and discard it. I have no patience for litter scattered around our home.
The same type of routine can be adopted for keeping one’s thinking in a healthy happy place. If there are any “rotten items” hanging around in thought, or unnecessary litter clogging our mental landscape, it can be promptly discarded.
These rotten items might include a resentment, complaint or criticism of another. Perhaps a fear of disease that is growing or a saddening state that is spreading. Mental litter to be discerned and thrown out might include doubts and anxieties, impatience, white lies, excuses for inaction, subtle judgments of our neighbor, or inclinations toward laziness. There is nothing good in holding onto negative attitudes, and they can be discarded as promptly as a molding potato in the pantry.
God is the one Mind that we are divinely designed to reflect. This Mind is filled with thoughts of Truth and Love that inspire, uplift, invigorate and heal. They are thoughts of patience, generosity, unselfish giving, goodwill, kindness and consideration. They are productive thoughts producing profitable results. They evidence spiritual growth, happiness, gratitude, and health.
If there’s anything hanging around in your thought today that is less than God-like, then don’t hesitate to give it a swift kick out. Haul it out to the garbage bin of “nothingness,” and enjoy the benefits of thinking out from a clean state of mind—the divine Mind—where health and freedom to succeed abound.
Wonderful analogy Evan, thank you ♡
Thanks for this reminder Evan. Yes we have to be alert to what’s hanging around in thought because we don’t always realise what has sneaked in. Like you say we must give it a swift kick out and then not let it back in. As always – an excellent SV.
This is most helpful, Evan – it’s good to have a clear-out of thoughts and worries that linger on unchecked.
Many thanks.
Your inspiration of today is very helpful Evan. Especially for those who keep their surroundings, homes, and their selves spic and span, but never care to keep their thinking so. I have seen people who think they are very pure and clean and shun others who come from the middle class and not from the rich and elite. Even Christ remarked once, that the cup should be clean from within… most important is to keep our thoughts and our hearts pure, loving, humble and kind.
Christ Jesus did not even have a permanent home, he never cared for the outward glitter of things. I wonder if Christ Jesus would walk into our lives again, how many of these so called clean and outwardly pure and rich people would accept him in his Christlike being and simplicity.
Our leader Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy would not even tolerate a speck of dust in her house, but at the same time she was so generous and kind right from her childhood, to the poor and downtrodden. She would give away her cardigan to the less fortunate poor kids on the roadside who could not tolerate the bitter cold.
The very essence, the heart and soul of Christian Science is “love”. If we do not have a loving and a pure heart, all is a waste… Reading and studying volumes will not help, unless we learn to keep our thoughts uplifted, humble, loving and pure.
Oh dear Nergish,
you touch my heart very much, and I thank you so much for the Love you express in your comment. Better and clearer it could hardly be said than you did it – thanks a lot!
Thank you dear Evan very much for today`s SpiritView – it has to be pondered very much, and then I should follow your advice of your last paragraph.
Thank you also very much all SpiritView family for your comments.
Like to study them all!
Kirsten`s link I can open, but not Daphne`s. But thank you anyhow! 😉
Thank you! Very important point– especially on a week when we’re studying ‘Substance’ in the CS Bible Lesson. “Things are thoughts” notes MBE. We actually see, handle, experience thoughts. I find that reading the Bible with Mrs. Eddy’s writings and the CS literature are supreme cleaning tools, vacuuming away random assumptions, dusting off and polishing intentions, washing off with all-powerful solvents [“the universal solvent of Love”] those greasy and unappealing stains on character, those cloudy windows of perception. My home feels like pure peace has descended when it’s clean. After a spiritual bout of honest thought-sweeping (often mine-sweeping!), my heart does, too.
Wonderful to remember how radiantly pure reality is.
So good to check ourselves on this daily, hourly, and moment by moment to examine ourselves to make sure nothing rotten lingers in thought! I bet if we wrote down each time we corrected thought, we would then realize we still have more to do to make sure we took out all of the
daily trash. Let’s take the challenge and remove the rubbish! Thank you, Evan!! Again, what a wonderful blog and much gratitude for you and to all who read, study and comment.
Appreciate you all!
Always good ideas!
Thank you Evan and All! It seems that often the trash piling tends to become a habit if uncorrected in thought. The more it piles, the more difficult it is to get rid of. I have seen yards or streets sometimes start to become cluttered and after a while the mess multiplies, because the incentive to keep it clean wanes or folks litter because Others have done so before them. We have to keep our thought always right on a daily basis to maintain right actions. A great reminder. Thank you again.
Thank you Evan and contributors. Many good ideas to ponder in today’s SV. 🙂
Ah yes, yes. As you know, I love analogies. This is a great one, so clear and…clean!
VIP’s are coming to visit this week, staying here with us for 3-4 days. (Family we seldom see, as they live far away.) Every homemaker knows what THIS means! Cleaning that was put off, gotta do it, now! And I know I must have a sparkling attitude before, during and after all the hub-bub. No, not always easy. Sometimes downright challenging, but as I wrote yesterday, I’m learning!
I have noticed in the past that when I am most prayerfully active, our home naturally becomes cleaner, more orderly, peaceful. Hmmmm….Reminds me of “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” (Proverb)
Here is a link to an article from jsh-online titled “Do something about the mental ‘litter’ ” by Karin Holser;
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/nfczd8vvji?s=e
This link should work for subscribers and non-subscribers. 🙂
Kirsten Thank you very much for the link.
“Love never loses sight of loveliness”. God loves everything that’s beautiful, such a lovely thought from our fabulous leader to keep our minds, homes and even see our neighbors as lovely.
Some trash may stick to the surface , something spilled may require more effort to get rid of. We need to work harder at it.
Love the ideas! The following is a link to a poem entitled “Housekeeping” that I keep on my refrigerator door to see every day! Hope you enjoy it like I do! Lots of love to all!
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1977/1/79-1/housecleaning
This is the best!! I absolutely love keeping my house in spotless condition. No matter how tired I
am, nothing can stop me from that little last thing I may see which should not be there, and
needs to be picked up or cleaned. Now when I apply this to anything that doesn’t need to be
there in my consciousness….. well, this analogy is going to work wonderfully for me! It’s
brilliant and my heartfelt ‘THANK YOU Evan’!