December 31, 2009
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I’ve been sorting through items as I pack them away for our move. As
I’ve been organizing and sorting, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking
about what I should keep and what I should toss. The more I thought
about it the more I realized that there is generally a motive behind
much of what we do. As Christian women our motive should always be for
the glory of God.So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and
meditating and praying about what the biblical motive should be behind
what I keep and what I toss. The consistent thought that continues to
come back to me is this… what kind of life do I want when I move to
this new house? How do I want to spend my days? Do I want to spend my
days dusting a lot of knickknacks and pictures? Do I want to spend my
days shuffling around stuff from one room to the next? How much time do
I want to spend on my housework? And by simplifying my days as far as
housekeeping goes, what would I plan to do with the time left over?I
am so eternally grateful that God’s Word addresses these questions.
Yes, God calls us to be keepers at home, but He has not given us just
this one command. We are to be lovers of our husband and children. We
all have gifts that we are to use to benefit the body of Christ. We are
told to visit those in prison and those who are sick. We are to take
care of the orphans and the widows. These are just a few of the duties
that God has assigned to us.Each of us has a different
situation where God has placed us. There will be a difference in how I
spend my days since my children are grown and gone compared to a woman
who still has her children left at home to minister to. I may have
neighbors living next door that God has called me to minister to, where
other women may live miles from their nearest neighbor so the
opportunity to minister may be more of a challenge.I guess
what I am trying to say is that I want to think deliberately about how
I want to spend my days this coming year and not just blindly take each
day as it comes without any thought of eternity. If I were to stand
before the Lord tomorrow and give an account for today and how I spent
my hours would I believe that I had spent them for His glory?I’m
reminded of an innocent last summer where I spent 5 or 6 hours making
fruit cocktail to only end up with 5 jars. And to top it off… my
husband doesn’t even care for fruit cocktail and my children aren’t
home to help me eat it. So, WHY did I choose to spend that amount of
time on something that ended up being useless? Because I didn’t wisely
think through the best way to use my time. There are things I can do in
my home to save a good amount of money to make it worth my while but
this was not one of those best uses of my time.Our escrow is due to close in a week. We’ve either sold, given away or stored all of our items except just the basics.
A friend
recently asked me what I would take if I knew I was packing for the
mission field. I had to really stop and think about that. What would I
take? I’d want to take study tools, books, bibles,etc. that would help
teach others about His Word. I’d need clothes, of course, but I
wouldn’t be taking as many as I have now. I’m still trying to think
through that question to decide what would be the essentials. And if I
could live with so much less on a foreign land, why do I think I need
SO much stuff here?So, as I am going through each drawer to
pack away items for our new home, I am asking myself if this item is
something that is really going to help me in serving my family or
others or is it something that is going to require time to maintain,
pack, move or dust that could better be spent on something or someone
else. I’m making a choice each time I handle an item. There will be
many things I keep. But, my hope is that there will be much I give
away, sell and throw away, too. Will I end this year having served my
‘things’ or served the Lord by ministering to those He has put along my
path each and every day.Love to you all! May God teach us to redeem our time and days for His glory!
Georgene
