While easily overlooked, it is nevertheless a truism: we find time to do the things we love. We do not always have much say in the affections of our heart. There are things we love that do not induce us to be more of what we are intended to be. Excess clutter forms when we pursue things outside of our essential fountain of life that flows from the center of our being, and is intended as a life-giving force first for our own stability and well-being, and secondarily yet just as importantly, to those around us.
Some of the ways clutter forms and slows the growth flow is meaning well, but not doing well. (IE, thinking and dreaming without much action to put and form things into place that will build the momentum and grace to see our vision through, and others come to pass.
We can get caught in a trap of denial as to what it will cost us to see our particular walk of life through to its logical aim. Many of us get sidelined in wishful thinking, without prayerful doing. Our Creator perpetually stands by to bless our actions borne of honesty, and is not looking for perfection, who always gives us grace to begin again not matter how short we may have fallen.
Another common trap is fear of what others perceive of us. We all need some wiggle room to think, to plan, to grow. Sometimes the arrogance of others catches us by surprise: we feel hung up before we are ready to be on display. We feel judged, roughed up by reactions that were premature in the giving. This can stunt healthy forward thinking to a great degree, and needs to recognized as the obstacle-maker it is before we can be fully fledged and ready to move on to a place of greater self-realization.
Ironically, self-denial can be a means to putting actions into place that needed to be present all along. “The one who seeks to save his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life for My sake and the sake of [the good news] will find it.”