For today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about something more in depth that I mentioned in last week’s post. Last week I was debriefing about how the month of March went for my no buy year. In that post I shared that I didn’t break any of my rules, but my heart was still struggling with the desire to shop for the wrong reasons. Even though the purchases I made last month were all okay with the rules I had set up for myself, I realized that I was still shopping to ease anxiety or to get that dopamine hit to feel better. This week I have been thinking more about this idea of the importance of a heart change and not just a change in actions.

The whole purpose of doing this no buy year, or any of the challenges I choose, is ultimately to change myself on a heart level, not just a habit level. That is the true test! We may be able to muster up enough willpower to change our behavior, but the lasting and sustainable change happens when change happens in our hearts. This is actually a Christian principle, which Jesus talked about in His famous sermon The Sermon on the Mount. He talked about how it is not enough to just follow the commandments, but we must also follow them in our minds and hearts. This is a tall order, which is why we believe as Christians we need the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us follow through.

This may be a really weird analogy, but I have thought about how this is similar to our homes. We may have the counters and external space clear; but if our closets, cabinets, and drawers are disorganized and stuffed, we are still not organized and we are still going to have problems finding things. We may have the external appearance of being organized – we may be following the rules and our behavior is correct, but if our hidden spaces are a mess, like our hearts are a mess, then there is still work to do.

I’m not saying this is an easy thing. As a matter of fact, as I mentioned, there are still things that I struggle with that I am working to change at a heart level. But that all takes time. Just like it takes time to clean out the hidden spaces, cabinet by cabinet, drawer by drawer. I am hopeful that if I put in the consistent work of exposing myself to things that are true (like reading the Bible, listening to sermons or other positive content, and praying) I will eventually get there. Usually cleaning out our hidden spaces in our homes does not happen overnight, and I think the same is true as we work to “clean up our hearts.”

The important thing to remember is that no one is perfect. We all have struggles. We all struggle with different things. But we must keep striving towards better. Each day. That’s all we can do! And our growth is not always linear. We will have ups and downs. We may even have a season – a few weeks, a few months – of setbacks. We can’t beat ourselves up for our setbacks and failures. We must view them as opportunities for lessons and growth. And hope that the growth is still a steady progression forward.