Exercising - My Mind!

My mind has been exercised these last few days since I found my messy drawer(s). I am looking at my home with new eyes and seeing the "stuff" I have accumulated over months and years.

Having a birthday at Christmas, I often get double the amount of bath and shower creams and makeup goodies so that means I have to use them quite quickly because like food, they have a use-by date, some 6, some 12 and some 24 months, once opened. Did you know that?

This set me thinking - do these beauty products "go off" after a year or if we continue using them will that special, expensive cream or oil shrivel our skin? Will our toenails or fingernails drop off or will the hard skin on our heels get harder if we use old nail varnish or cream? And what about that shower cream which needs to be used within "24m" - will it cause irreparable damage if we carry on putting it on our bodies when it's past its use-by date? Does Shea butter really make our skin softer, even when it's old and what about the anti cellulite oil I bought 5 years ago? It's only one quarter used, but should have been used within 6 months - what will it do to my legs if I continue to use it? I certainly can't see much evidence that it has worked so far!!

OR are use-by dates on all these products, supposedly meant to beautify my whole body, a ploy by the manufacturers to get me to throw them all away within a certain time and buy new? Now I am retired and don't wear much makeup, I did throw out several pots of eye shadow and about ten lipsticks a while ago but it took a lot of courage and I was so tempted to grab it back out of the bin! Does this resonate with any ladies reading this?

All this, though, is to do with my outward appearance so you know what I'm going to say now! Is that all that matters? Do we need to look at our inner self and throw out all those thoughts and feelings that have been pushed down and poisoning us for years and which are way past THEIR use-by date? Do our lives need spring-cleaning as well as our homes? Once our hearts are clean our thoughts will be transformed and our minds and spirits will feed on good things. We need to let go of the old that is no longer relevant and embrace new things that will enrich our lives and the lives of others as we speak out from what is in our hearts. We can't do it on our own but I know a man who can!

He (Jesus) gave his life to free us from every kind of sin,
to cleanse us,
and to make us his very own people,
totally committed to doing good deeds.
Titus 2 : 14
New Living Translation