Just Seven Steps!

A young mother was getting ready to put her Christmas ham in the oven. Her husband was working along side of her in the kitchen. When she went to put the ham in the pan, she first cut off the end of the ham. Her husband asked, “Why do you cut off the end of the ham?” She replied, “That is the way my mother does it.” Later, she called her mother and said, “Why do we cut the end off the Christmas ham?” Her mother replied, “Because that is how my mother taught me.” The young mother then called her grandmother and said, “Why do we cut the end of the Christmas ham off?” Her grandmother said, “Because my pan was too small to fit the ham in.”

Many times, we don’t even realize why we do what we do. It gets programed into our brain to do certain things and if we don’t do it that way, it causes us to be uncomfortable or panic. The following “Just Seven Steps” is to break patterns in our lives that hold us captive.

It is an act of faith to make a change for seven days or seven times.

Seven Steps to Get Off the Treadmills of Life

1. Don’t make your bed for seven days.
2. Leave your supper dishes in the sink overnight for seven days.
3. Take a seven-minute break from your work and do something different than your work list.
4. Take a seven-minute nap even if you don’t fall asleep, it helps.
5. Wait seven seconds before you reply in anger or want to make a remark.
6. Wait seven minutes to reply to a text of email.
7. On big projects that seem overwhelming, just pick one thing and work on it for seven minutes.

Seven Steps to Invest in Your Health

1. Do seven deep knee bends by holding on your kitchen sink counter while your coffee is brewing or using the microwave.
2. During a commercial on TV, sit straight up like you have a string pulling from the top of your head to your hips. Hold the position for thirty seconds and do it seven time. This keeps you back strong and pulls your belly muscles tight.
3. When you want a snack, take a seven-minute walk first.
4. Drink seven ounces of water seven times a day.
5. Go up and down seven steps seven times a day.
6. Eat a piece of fruit once a day for seven days.
7. Eat a salad once a day for seven days.

Seven Reasons You Hold on to Stuff!

1. You see the value of the item but have no use for it.
2. You think you may need it in the future but usually you can’t find it when you need it.
3. You are a giver and you think someone may need this some day but that day never comes.
4. Someone gave you a gift that you will never use or need so you hold on to it instead of investing it by giving it away.
5. You have clothes from the 1990’s and think I will lose weight and fit into this outfit.
6. You have pictures from a vacation. It has no people and you are not sure where the vacation was but you keep it anyway.
7. You have a shirt you love but you are saving it to wear for a special occasion. That occasion never comes and you could have enjoyed wearing your shirt.

Seven Reason to Let go of Stuff!

1. Does the item add value to your life or is it just gathering dust?
2. Someone may need the item but is it your responsibility to supply that need?
3. I will lose weight and will be able to fit in that outfit. It would be better to bless someone and trust God for something better for you to wear.
4. You don’t get a harvest if you don’t let go of things and plant them in another person’s life.
5. Good things clutter your life when you really want God things that are best for you.
6. You have too much of it anyway and it is just getting in the way.
7. You really don’t need or use it.

References and Notes:

Seven: Divine perfection (Gen. 2:2 good); Rest (Gen 2:2; Ps. 12:6; Spiritual completion (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; Blessed (Gen. 2:3; Full/satisfied/have enough of (The Hebrew for seven is shevah, from the root, savah, which means ‘full/satisfied/have enough of).

Genesis 2:2 “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested.”