Whatever

What is the state of your closet?  Yes, THAT closet: The one that is big and roomy and seems to fill up with all of the unmatched, unwanted, and forgotten stuff in your life. 

I actually like to clean closets. I love to pull everything out and sort it into three piles: the keepers, the give-away pile, and the stuff I don’t really want but am not yet willing to part with.  The keepers and give-away piles are easy.  We pull close what we love and dispose of what is bad or unnecessary. It is the stuff that I don’t really want but am not willing to part with that is difficult. 

 My heart is the same way. It is easy to keep the good stuff close to my heart, and it’s pretty easy to let go of what is glaringly bad in my life.  It is difficult to part with the stuff that I don’t really want but have an emotional attachment to.   Sometimes I am emotionally attached to my feeling of anger toward someone.  It could be that I have unrealistic expectations for my spouse.  Maybe I am attached to a need to control everything and everyone around me.  We can become emotionally attached to our feelings, sins, desires or entitlements and these are the very things that God wants us to dispose of.

I think of a closet as a place where things are stored and forgotten. The closet space in my heart, however, works differently.  What I store in my heart may seem put away and out of sight, but it will inevitably affect my life through my attitude and actions,

What should I be storing in the personal closet space of my heart?  Philippians 4:8 tells us to dwell on the whatever’s:  "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”  If  what I am storing  in my closet is not part of God’s list of whatever’s, it is probably something I should dispose of.  This week I plan on examining the closet space in my heart and see what I'm storing there.  I plan to embrace the keepers, and add at least one of the things I am holding tightly to, to the give-away pile.

Abundance

 

John 1:16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 

As a child of God I am the recipient of His blessing.  I am full, even overflowing with all God has graciously bestowed upon me. What is His abundance in my life?  Today I decided to think of as many examples of His abundance in my life that I could (I am sure there are more). I invite you to do the same.

I am His. I belong to Him. I have family and friends who love me. I have purpose. I have health and happiness. There is plenty of chocolate and coffee in the world. I have creativity and know joy. My flowers are blooming, My dog is not too old to walk with me. My husband and son put up with my crazy. I enjoy sunshine, wind and storms in my life. I see beauty and feel sorrow. My Hope is in Him. 

“God will overflow your cup, so grab the biggest one you can find.” Rob Liano

Kicked out of the Garden

I’ve been kicked out of my garden. The roses have just finished their first big bloom of the season, the snapdragons are ready to pop open and the birds are welcoming the day with some loud hallelujahs.  I would like nothing more than to take the floral tour of my own garden to see how things are doing. There may be aphids waiting to be eliminated. There may be flowers to dead-head. There is certainly a wicker chair waiting for me, my book and a glass of iced tea. 

It is not to be.  There is evil afoot in my garden. The large, awful, ugly tree with the treacherous little white “flowers” is blooming in full splendor.  Along with its splendor comes my misery. Watery eyes, runny nose and itchy face accompany the blooming of the tree. How can something that seems so harmless chase me away from the garden? How can it separate me from the thing that I love?

 

Each of us has something that we harbor within us that chases us away from spending time in the garden.  My secret sins, my lack of discipline, my laziness chase me out of the garden. Seemingly harmless things build up until I barely realize that I am harboring such sins in my heart. These things separate me from the One I love.

As a child of the Master Gardener I am loved, forgiven, and always welcomed, but I am still able to stray from the garden. How easy it is to glance over the fence without entering. So often I say “later” to the garden and the Master Gardener. I can choose to not pull up the wicker chair and sit for a while. I can choose not to tend to my emotions and responsibilities. I can choose to not tend to the spiritual disciplines that will cause me to want to spend time with the Master Gardner.

I hope you are finding time to be in the garden. If not, what is keeping you away?  What are you allowing to come between you and the One who loves you?  Allow yourself to sink deeper into relationship with Him. Spend time in the garden. The Master Gardner is there, tending the garden, waiting for you to pull up the wicker chair and sit a while with Him.

 

Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”