Confronted With My Life.
I seem to find myself at one of those crossroads people encounter from time to time. At this particular crossroad the overwhelming clutter of my life is slapping me in the face. You live somewhere for twenty years and the accumulation can be immense. I'm not talking hoarding magnitude by far, but I have…things, so many things. It's not even big things, but so many little tiny things- drawers filled with little things that one day I, or somebody might need. Truthfully, there are a lot of one-days and those little things do come in handy, but the little things far out-number the one-days, unfortunately. This crossroad demands I take of the entire contents of my life and make decisions- what will stay, what will go. I don't want anything to go. I want all my small things for the one-days to remain tucked away in their many little places- this desk drawer, that buffet, this box in the closet, that dresser drawer. I find this crossroad I am at is revealing my cherished idols and they are many. I speak a big game when I say I'd give up all for Christ, that none of my possessions is as important as Christ, that He must come first. It's not a lie, it's all truth, and now, well now… I'm realizing just how attached to things I am. They are things and as I mentioned before- none of these things can I take into death's sleep with me. We surround ourselves with a lot of things for the memories they hold- these aren't the little-things for the one-days, these are the bigger things of memory, the bigger things that please us in some way. The trouble is- the little things for one-days are not things you sell because no one wants the little things, they have enough of their own. The bigger things of memory and pleasure may have some value to others so they are more sellable. Ahh, this crossroad. I think I'm just going to sit down right here under the crossroad sign for a bit. I'm going to sit here and pray. I do want to have Christ first in my life in all things. I do want my treasures to be in heaven. So, as I am faced with downsizing my entire life I must truly comprehend what my treasures are or should be- they are unbreakably safe in heaven, they are priceless in heaven, they reside with my Savior in heaven. These things surrounding me now are just- things, temporary things.
If I had my way, which I'm glad I don't because I don't know the end from the beginning, then nothing would change. I would keep my life, my way of living, my possessions just as they are, just as they became over the last twenty-seven years with my husband. I would keep all the things which remind me of him, of our shared life.
I am blessed to live in a time where I can take pictures and keep those pictures- hundreds and hundreds, thousands and thousands- and each picture a memory. I won't lose a single memory as I journey down the road I must cross. I am blessed.
All in my Savior's love, I will trust, by His grace and mercy, His love.
******* (While the following little study (not written by me) isn't talking about my crossroads, I did find it very thought provoking, a spiritual blessing of truth.)
'Who is willing to take himself in hand? Who is willing to lay his finger upon his cherished idols of sin, and allow Christ to purify the temple by casting out the buyers and sellers? Who is prepared to allow Jesus to enter the soul and cleanse it from everything that tarnishes or corrupts? The standard is, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). God calls upon men and women to empty their hearts of self. Then His Spirit can find unobstructed entrance.
Stop trying to do the work yourself.
Ask God to work in and through you until the words of the apostle become yours, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). The whole being must hunger and thirst after righteousness. The soul's desire must be to be drawn to God, to be bent in perfect conformity to His will. Then the cold, hard heart will be melted by the grace and love of God, which appear in power. God will be glorified through the human instrumentalities. Self is the great hindrance to this work. . . . ' {1MR 367.3-1MR 368.1}
I seem to find myself at one of those crossroads people encounter from time to time. At this particular crossroad the overwhelming clutter of my life is slapping me in the face. You live somewhere for twenty years and the accumulation can be immense. I'm not talking hoarding magnitude by far, but I have…things, so many things. It's not even big things, but so many little tiny things- drawers filled with little things that one day I, or somebody might need. Truthfully, there are a lot of one-days and those little things do come in handy, but the little things far out-number the one-days, unfortunately. This crossroad demands I take of the entire contents of my life and make decisions- what will stay, what will go. I don't want anything to go. I want all my small things for the one-days to remain tucked away in their many little places- this desk drawer, that buffet, this box in the closet, that dresser drawer. I find this crossroad I am at is revealing my cherished idols and they are many. I speak a big game when I say I'd give up all for Christ, that none of my possessions is as important as Christ, that He must come first. It's not a lie, it's all truth, and now, well now… I'm realizing just how attached to things I am. They are things and as I mentioned before- none of these things can I take into death's sleep with me. We surround ourselves with a lot of things for the memories they hold- these aren't the little-things for the one-days, these are the bigger things of memory, the bigger things that please us in some way. The trouble is- the little things for one-days are not things you sell because no one wants the little things, they have enough of their own. The bigger things of memory and pleasure may have some value to others so they are more sellable. Ahh, this crossroad. I think I'm just going to sit down right here under the crossroad sign for a bit. I'm going to sit here and pray. I do want to have Christ first in my life in all things. I do want my treasures to be in heaven. So, as I am faced with downsizing my entire life I must truly comprehend what my treasures are or should be- they are unbreakably safe in heaven, they are priceless in heaven, they reside with my Savior in heaven. These things surrounding me now are just- things, temporary things.
If I had my way, which I'm glad I don't because I don't know the end from the beginning, then nothing would change. I would keep my life, my way of living, my possessions just as they are, just as they became over the last twenty-seven years with my husband. I would keep all the things which remind me of him, of our shared life.
I am blessed to live in a time where I can take pictures and keep those pictures- hundreds and hundreds, thousands and thousands- and each picture a memory. I won't lose a single memory as I journey down the road I must cross. I am blessed.
All in my Savior's love, I will trust, by His grace and mercy, His love.
******* (While the following little study (not written by me) isn't talking about my crossroads, I did find it very thought provoking, a spiritual blessing of truth.)
'Who is willing to take himself in hand? Who is willing to lay his finger upon his cherished idols of sin, and allow Christ to purify the temple by casting out the buyers and sellers? Who is prepared to allow Jesus to enter the soul and cleanse it from everything that tarnishes or corrupts? The standard is, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). God calls upon men and women to empty their hearts of self. Then His Spirit can find unobstructed entrance.
Stop trying to do the work yourself.
Ask God to work in and through you until the words of the apostle become yours, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). The whole being must hunger and thirst after righteousness. The soul's desire must be to be drawn to God, to be bent in perfect conformity to His will. Then the cold, hard heart will be melted by the grace and love of God, which appear in power. God will be glorified through the human instrumentalities. Self is the great hindrance to this work. . . . ' {1MR 367.3-1MR 368.1}