Courage For Today

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When We Have Full Storage but Empty Faith

Encouragement

Recently, I have been spending time trying to re-organize and clean my storage unit.  If any of you have ever tried to clean out your garage or storage unit, then I don’t have to tell you how much fun it is.  I never realized how much “stuff” I accumulated over the years until I started the project.  I began by trying to create a pile of items that I could donate; a pile of items that I could trash; and a final pile of items that I wanted to keep and store.  It’s actually more difficult than you would think to sort items in this manner.  I found myself getting sentimental and wanting to keep things that my head said I had no business keeping, but my heart said otherwise.  I ended up keeping things that I probably would never use again but I convinced myself that there just might be a time down the road I would actually use them.  Unfortunately, I only had limited room in my storage unit so I was forced to create some space for the items I really did need to keep.

As I was slowly, but surely, making progress in my re-organizing efforts, it occurred to me that holding on to so many things of the past actually prevented me from making room for the things of the present and future.  There was no way I was going to ever have any room to add anything new because I had been too focused on items in the past.  Our Christian faith is so much like that.  We fill our lives with so much “junk” that we aren’t able to recognize what God may be trying to do in our lives.

Whenever God wants to send us in a particular direction, our tendency is to reach back and pull out a storage box from the past.  If God is leading you down a particular career path, we somehow find the storage box labeled “Reasons I Can’t Do This.”  If God is moving you to forgive someone, we search for the storage box labeled, “People Who Don’t Deserve Forgiving.”  If God asks you to witness to someone about your faith, we locate the storage box that says, “They Might Be Offended.”  If God says “Worship Me,” we find the storage box that says, “I Don’t Have Time.”

I can tell you that pulling all of the old boxes out of storage was exhausting.  It was a great feeling to de-clutter and know that my storage unit now had room for bigger and better things.  As Christians, we all spend way too much time worrying about our past and bringing out old baggage that is no longer relevant in our lives.  Instead, concentrate on what God is doing today in your life.

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God’s Love Letter

Encouragement

My wife and I just recently moved to a new condominium in the Big City.  As you could imagine, moving from a larger home to a smaller condo is quite challenging.  We have lots of items to possible discard or sell and other items we simply just have to store and organize better.  The good news is we’re making good progress and the new place is beginning to look more and more like home.

As I was unpacking, there was one particular box that caught my attention.  In this box, I had packed a lifetimes worth of letters; cards; and gifts from others.  You know what I’m referring to.  The Father’s Day cards your daughter and son wrote to you in kindergarten.  The love notes from your wife that make me to this day wonder what she sees in me, even though I’m eternally grateful.  The report cards from your children showing their good grades (must be heredity) and the random note telling you what a great dad you’ve been or how you’re special to them.  These are items that are priceless and just really take me down memory lane remembering the fun, the trials, the adventures, and all the seasons in life that make it so wonderful.

There was one particular letter, however, that made me stop.  It was a letter my mom had written to me in 1985.  I had forgotten that she had even written the letter, but it became especially meaningful now since she passed away in 2006.  It was almost like she was there talking to me.  It was like she had never left and this letter was a small legacy of her influence on my life.

In the letter, she was telling me how thankful she was for my Dad and what a blessing he had been for her and how that I was so much like him.  She went on to thank God for sending my wife to me and how she knew my wife was definitely God-sent and a perfect help mate to me.  She closed the letter by telling my how much she loved me and how proud she was of me.  Wow!!  How much did I need to read that today!!

Even though she’s been gone now for 4 years, that letter from 1985 was a lasting tribute from her to me that will always be with me.  I’m sure she didn’t realize it at the time, but the words in that letter “live” in my heart today as I read them, some 25 years later.

As Christians, we have a similar letter written to us.  It’s called The Bible.  It’s sad to me that so many today feel the Bible is outdated or irrelevant.  In reality, it couldn’t be more up-to-date.  Even though God’s word was written thousands of years ago, it’s message filled with love and hope and encouragement mean as much today as it did all those years ago when Christ walked on this Earth.

Is it time for you to have a new love affair with God’s Word?  Maybe you need to dust off the cover and begin reading HIS Word again.  Just like when I read my mom’s letter to me all those years ago, her letter had as much, if not more, meaning to me now in my life than it did when the letter was written.  A mom’s love has a way of knowing what to say and when to say it.  A mom’s love has a way of praising and encouraging, but balancing that with the right amount of discipline and focus and instruction.

God’s Word is no different.  I would encourage you to fall in love with God’s Word again and allow HIS words of guidance and encouragement to reach the inner-most depths of your being so that your Christian Walk will be stronger and be a lasting testimony to others.

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