But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:20-21 NIV
I was given a box of letters and other miscellaneous items from my grandparents’ childhood and their young adult lives. There were letters that grandpa wrote to grandma while they were dating and letters from grandma’s family to her at school. As I was sorting through these letters, I came across one in particular that I stopped to read. There were two sheets of paper and each paragraph was written by a different member of her family telling the current news about themselves. Her sister wrote of the cut on her hand which was why her writing was particularly messy; her other sister wrote about how it was too icy to go into town so they had been cooped up inside, and her father wrote that he was milking Old Bessie and that he missed my her [my grandma’s] help! These were words on a page but they weren’t just words contained in these letters. These letters held collected moments—remembered days—snapshots of days from a bygone era—they were stories of lives lived.
In with all these letters were also old photographs: family portraits, snapshots, and school photos. I saw my grandfather grow from a boy, to a young man, to an adult, to the grandfatherly, old man I knew and loved so dearly. I have pictures of him as a farm boy with his best cow in the 1940s, as a young business man standing next to my grandmother, and pictures of him holding us grandkids. All of these things are the paraphernalia of a life gone by—a letter, a photo, a random token from a vacation. These everyday things are the artifacts left in one’s wake.
And yet they are not all the things, they are the physical reminders of a life on earth, but there are the nontangible and much more valuable remnants too. The memories of my grandfather teaching me to ride a bike, grandma teaching me her cooking skills, and memories of her hospitable nature to anyone who crossed her doorstep. There are the memories of weekly trips to the library, how they were always encouraging me to read, setting an example in front of me. These are the things I remember. All of these things and so much more are the legacy of my grandparents to me.
We will all leave behind a legacy when we are gone. Jesus did. He implored His disciples to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. He left an unparalleled legacy of loving others. Even nonbelievers agree with this. Our possessions will remain on this earth, our souls will leave our bodies, and yet a legacy will remain. Jesus told the young lawyer to sell all he had to the poor, because his legacy was not in his possessions but in his heart. What is in our hearts? It is easy to shake our heads at the young lawyer who went away sad because he was very wealthy, but do we acknowledge our own follies and foolishness? We place so much value in things—it’s hard not to. But what of the value of memories we leave with the ones we love? What will they remember about us?
What about the intangible in our lives? The people in our lives, are we loving them well? The spiritual gifts we’ve been given, are we utilizing them well? We will leave behind remnants of these gifts as well, not tangible as an old letter or photograph, but a snapshot nonetheless of our life. The base truth is that we do need things in this life. Money is useful, a house keeps us comfortable and insulated from the elements, but these too are just things. We can look at another biblical figure, Simon Peter who, though he had many foibles, ultimately got it right, dedicating his life to following Christ.
We will leave others behind and they will remember who we were. What we did for a living won’t necessarily be remembered as much. Some of these people will be responsible for going through the memorabilia of our lives. Some will go through the stacks of memories we have left imprinted on their minds. Will they shake their heads at us like we do the young lawyer in the Bible or will they remember us like Simon Peter whose antics we laugh at but ultimately admire because he got it right. Are we getting it right?
Disclosure
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Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”
Exodus 18:17-18 NIV
I know a couple who both just retired. They are still young, especially to be retired, and they still have lots of life left in them. The question is—what to do with it? What do you do when you have always been known by your career—by what you do? What is left when all is stripped away?
It is so easy to find our worth in our career, by what we do, even if we are someone who doesn’t work outside the home. We try to find our value in external things; the volunteer position, the type of the home we keep, the number of homemade meals we prepare. Usually it goes far beyond this. In today’s day and age, we often are busy working our day jobs, running around to different activities, rushing home to prepare an all-organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, superfoods-type meal, and then we hurry to clean everything up in order to do more work—be it a side hustle or a house project, and then we fall, exhausted, into bed. This is not how we were meant to live. We end up doing too much in some sort of contest to prove our self-worth.
This happened in the Bible with Moses too. Talk about having everything stripped away! He went from rags to riches, back to rags, and to riches again! Moses was born into an enslaved Israelite family, who, in an effort to save his life, was sent floating in a basket down the Nile River. Being found by the pharaoh’s daughter, he is raised in the pharaoh’s court as a prince. When he was grown, Moses killed an Egyptian when he saw the Egyptian beating a fellow Israelite. He then fled into the desert, where he became a shepherd with a nomadic people. Doesn’t that sound like the storyline of so many movies—the broke young person who works their way to the top, becomes a powerful executive, and then throws it all away to go live a simple life? But then things change for Moses.
While Moses was shepherding his flock he came across a bush that was burning but it was not consumed. God speaks to Moses through the bush and tells him to deliver His chosen people, the Israelites. Moses doesn’t want to go but finally he listens and goes to Egypt. A lot happens there; eventually Moses makes it back out of Egypt with all the Israelites. He is a leader, the judge of all disputes, the spiritual leader, and basically all things to all people. He is talking of this to his father-in-law, Jethro, when Jethro stops Moses and tells him that he is doing too much. Jethro tells Moses he needs to delegate. Moses listens to Jethro’s advice and sets up a judicial system.
I think maybe Moses got carried away doing too much in effort to make up for his past wrongs, both perceived and legitimate. He killed an Egyptian—strike one. Then he fled to the wilderness abandoning his people—strike two. Maybe another reason he didn’t want to go back to Egypt is because he didn’t want to hear the Israelites accuse him of not caring about them. After all, he did leave! He escaped Egypt like so many of them wanted to do but couldn’t. Maybe Moses was eager to prove himself so he took on all the responsibilities that he could to try to make up for it.
But Moses had someone to call him out. He had someone to remind him that godliness isn’t busyness. And what’s more . . . Moses listened. He accepted the counsel of a trusted friend and mentor. He took a step back to look at what God had really called him to do and let the rest go. Moses seemed to know that when all is stripped away, it wouldn’t matter because he found his worth in God.
Do we find our worth the same way? If confronted as Jethro did to Moses, would we be humble enough to realize that very few roles are ones that only we can fill? Would we have the wisdom to relinquish control and get back into the sphere to which God has called us? When all is stripped away, would we be happy with what remains?
A while ago my husband and I went to Mexico for the first time. ( see my posts: Limited by Fear and The Fear That Holds You Back, I promise I will be through writing about this experience soon—maybe.) I was excited but also nervous as we prepared for this trip. I only had traveled internationally once before and had only been on a plane on two separate occasions in my adult life. When I was little I had flown quite a bit and, while I wasn’t afraid to fly, I was very apprehensive about all the other things, such as getting to my flight, making our connecting flight, going through customs, and finding the shuttle that was to take us to our hotel, and, hopefully, not getting kidnapped along the way—I would fit into a suitcase quite nicely!
While I was very nervous about all these things, I had one reason to not be afraid—my husband! He had flown a lot, and had even taken one more international trip than I had. He was old enough to remember how it was done! He would take care of me! So I told myself to relax and just let my husband take charge.
That Saturday morning we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. We were drinking coffee (we didn’t need), playing beachy sounding music, and getting even more wound up than we already were when suddenly my husband turned down the music and looked at me. “I have to tell you something,” he said. “I’m a little nervous about flying down to Mexico. Even though I’ve flown a decent amount, it’s always been in a group so I never needed to pay close attention. I just had to listen to whatever the group leaders told me to do. But we’ll be okay, right? You’re good with this stuff?”
It was one of the few times in my life that I was struck momentarily speechless. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! He had been placing his faith in me and I had been placing my faith in him! Neither of us had a clue that we were each other’s back-up plan. I barked out a laugh and told him that I had been counting on him this whole time! So much for the plan I had constructed in my mind about how I was safe and my husband had it all under control. My plan was worthless. Incidentally, so was my husband’s plan.
How often do we do things like this? How often do we place our trust in ourselves, or in others, or in our circumstances, rather than the One who created it all? Just as I had a false sense of security in my husband’s travel knowledge, so do we have a false sense of security in anything we place our trust in other than God. Circumstances can, and often do change on a dime. Financial hardships arise. Health concerns spring up from nowhere. A loved one is taken away unexpectedly. The life we thought we built vanishes due to some unforeseen circumstance. Life happens and reality hits us. We have virtually no control over any of it, even when we think we do. Control is the word we use instead of faith.
We can feel one of two ways when we are confronted with this reality. One, we can feel terrified of every situation and live our lives in a constant state of fear and anxiety because nothing we do will ever be enough to insulate us from our worst fears. Or, we can feel comforted because no matter what happens, it was never really in our hands to begin with. Rather every situation, every circumstance, is under God’s auspices and everything that happens in this world is filtered through His hands first. This doesn’t mean that He causes bad things to happen, but rather He will sometimes allow bad things to happen because He knows what the ultimate plan is.
We made it to Mexico and back safe and sound. We didn’t get kidnapped, detained, or put in a Mexican jail. While neither of us were travel experts, we had done our research and prepared as much as we could, and oftentimes that is all we can do. We have to do our due diligence and let God handle the rest. Actually, all the time, all we can do is our due diligence and let God handle the rest. Shall we?
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Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29
Four years ago we moved into our house. We had fallen in love with the beautiful views from this house, the nice outside fireplace area, and the fruit trees! Not just fruit trees, but blueberry bushes and 2 small rows of grapevines. Instantly the want-to-be-farm girl in me came out- we could grow our own food! Visions of canning fruit from our fruit trees, making blueberry jam from our bushes, and drying apple slices from our apple trees ran through my head. We thought of all that but, oh innocent little first time homeowners that we were, we did not know just how much work a property like this would entail…
Everything was already a little overgrown when we moved into our new home, so I put pruning- everything- on the to-do list. I had a friend some show me how to prune everything correctly and that spring we made a slight dent in the pruning, we picked a few blueberries and I canned a few pears but then….Life got very busy, our jobs became more demanding and pruning of the fruit trees and grapevines fell to the bottom of our priority list- and stayed there.
Next thing you know I looked out our back window one late winter day and realized that 2 of the wooden supports to hold the grapevines upright had fallen. I announced the happy news of one new project- fixing the grapevine supports- to my husband and as soon as the weather warmed up we were out there pounding stakes into the ground that we could drill to adjoin to the wooden grapevine posts to keep them upright. That worked great all through spring and into summer- until I looked out and saw that the other section of wooden posts (that had not been reinforced) had fallen down and also needed to be reinforced. We went out to fix up our grapevines and I took a good look at them. I realized what the problem was.
Our grapevines were massive at this point; the vines are not supposed to be the massive colossus that had become. The grapevines had grown much too large for the wire and wooden posts they were supported by. The posts were being asked to carry a load that they were never intended to carry.
I’m sure when the previous owners planted the grapevines they had planned, and from all appearances, mostly had kept up with the trimming back of the grapevine every year. But we hadn’t. New growth, upon new growth had added to the weight and size of the vines. Thus our grapevine supports found themselves collapsing under the weight of such a heavy load. Have you ever been in the same position?
Have you found yourself carrying more weight than you were ever meant to carry? One of my favorite hymns is “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and a line from that song is:
“Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.”
How many times in our lives have we found ourselves buckling under the weight of everything we decided to carry; but were never meant to carry on our own. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The King James Version says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Come to me. You who are weary. Who are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Jesus knew we would try to take on more than we should, and that we would need to stop and refocus on Him.
I think sometimes we take on more and more, pile our plate higher with things to do, and then when trouble strikes we buckle and ask God why has He given us all this to bear, instead of going to Him and asking, if He will help us to bear what He meant for us to bear, and to release the things that were never ours to carry. We sometimes forget to ask Him to show us rest.
I went at those grapevines that day and started hacking back the overgrown parts. There is still more that will need done, and it will take some time to get the grapevines back into the shape that they were meant to be in. The same may be true from us. It may take time to get some of the extra things off our todo list. It may take practice remembering to take our cares to God, and years of learning to find rest in Him. But just like it will be worth it when my grapevines finally start bearing good fruit because they only only have a few vines to put their energy into now, so your fruit will be that much sweeter when you are able bear that fruit from a place of joy and peace rather than bitterness from over laden load.
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After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. And Johnathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Johnathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
1 Samuel 18:1-4
It had been an exhausting Saturday. We had entertained so Saturday had been filled beforehand with cleaning and cooking, and afterwards with dishes and tidying up once our guests left. I like to host so that normally wouldn’t stress me out, but I had so many loose ends with work that I had wanted to tie up before our company came over but, of course, I hadn’t, and it was weighing on me. This was in the middle of what had been a long and exhausting season.
It had been a season of constant setbacks; we’d feel like we were making progress, and then just as quickly we’d end up right back where we had started. It wasn’t that anything tragic had happened—it wasn’t a season marked with great loss, but it was one filled with endless frustration. It was one of those season where the car died, the heating system needed replaced (right as the cold weather arrives) and the day-in-and-day-out seemed so mundane that I just want to scream.
This particular Sunday afternoon I was supposed to go over to a friend’s house after church for an hour or two—not for long—and I found myself not wanting to go. How was I going to be any fun to be around when I felt like this? I should cancel, I thought, but no, I made a commitment. I went around and around about it. Finally I decided to go. I put on a smile and went. We started talking and before long, my smile faltered…
I couldn’t keep my emotions hidden. Everything was okay so why was I being so emotional? I apologized as I am not usually overly emotional. My friend did the best thing she could do—she gave me a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin! (What situation doesn’t look better after a muffin?) And she prayed with me. Then we just talked; about nothing and everything. A while later I left feeling more restored and ready to go than I had felt in a long time.
I probably wasn’t the most fun to be around that day. A true friend is there anyway. I think we often don’t value friendships enough. We place great importance on spending time with family. We spend a lot of time getting our to-do list done. We place our careers on pedestals. But friends? We’ll squeeze them in when we can. But God created friendship too.
Friends are for helping us get through life. They are for far more than just doing something fun on the weekends. Look at the deep friendship of David and Jonathan in the Bible. Jonathan was loyal and faithful and jeopardized everything for David. Jonathan knew David would ultimately take the throne that he was in line to inherit. Talk about a strong and true friendship! Do you have friends like that in your life? Are you a friend like that to anyone? Typically, we only have a handful of friends like this throughout a lifetime, if we are lucky. Honestly though, we often don’t take the risk of being vulnerable with our friends. It’s scary! Every time we pass on being vulnerable and honest with our close friends, we miss the chance to deepen our relationship.
Yes, we do need to use discernment with whom we open up to. I’m not saying to unload on your friends every chance you get, but if you have a true friend, someone who is very close to you—are you being authentic with them? Are you providing the safety and security they need to open up to you? Remember, friendship isn’t just fluff. It is something God created for our benefit, so never underestimate what the comfort of a friend can do—for David it changed not only his life but also an empire.
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God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God Himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
1 Peter 4:10-11
It all started years ago when my friend’s cat had kittens. I wanted one. Of course I did—I have never met a kitten I haven’t wanted. Mom was holding out, not agreeing to getting one of the kittens as we already had two until my friend brought the last homeless kitten over to our house. My mother took one look at that cute little face and caved. We named her Girtie and agreed that she would be my kitty; the one I would take after I moved out and got a place of my own.
Fast forward five years. I was newly married, settled into our first apartment, and ready to bring Girtie to my house. I called mom to tell her that I would be picking Girtie up that weekend and mom was “less” than excited. She protested that she loved Girtie—I reminded her that she could come visit Girtie who was, after all, always supposed to be my kitty. Mom relented and I brought Girtie to her new home.
Being a five year old cat at this point, Girtie was a little slow to adjust; she meowed constantly and stayed mostly to herself the first few days, not venturing out and exploring her new home much. I made the mistake of telling my mother this and mom insisted that Girtie was not happy and should be brought back home to her house. I told her I thought Girtie was slowly adjusting but it did seem like mom wasn’t happy . . . should I take Girtie back? My question was answered when I saw pictures of some kittens that her friend had—they were 6 weeks old and in need of a home.
Girtie was returned and my husband and I went to pick out our new cat. There was just one problem—how were we supposed to pick just one?!? There was this adorable and sweet kitty with a miniature lightning bolt on his little nose, but then there was this really pretty light gray kitty with white marking on her face and a fiery little personality. We picked the one with the lightning bolt on his nose. We made it to the car. Then we stopped—was this the right decision? I kept remembering the delicate markings on the sweet face of the little light gray kitty. We turned around and told the owner we wanted her too! Thus, Jester and Trixie came home to live with us.
I think of that now and I don’t know how we ever made it to the car the first time without our little Trixie. She has such a big personality and has established herself as queen over the other furry residents in our house—namely her brother, Jester, and our dog, Rosie. Trixie keeps everyone in check. She makes us laugh and brings so much joy to our lives. Even though in the grand scheme of things Trixie may be just a cat (don’t tell her that!) I cannot imagine only having one kitty. Can you relate?
How marvelous is it that the God of the universe thought the same thing about us! The world was ticking right along with how many billions of people on it and yet God thought that the world wasn’t complete. So He created you too! He could have shrugged it off, thought about how many other millions of little babies He had breathed life into just that day and let it go—but He didn’t. He thought about how the lives of the people you love would be that much poorer, that much grayer, without the joy that you unwittingly bring just by being you!
It’s easy to think we don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Easy to think of the times when we’ve needed help from others, easy to think that we are such an inconvenience at times to others. When it seems like everything is going wrong it is easy to ask what our significance even is here on this earth.
We won’t know always know. When it comes right down to it we are just billions of insignificant people doing this significant thing called life. We can never know all the ways in which we affect and touch other’s lives, but what we do know is God created us for a reason, and the world just wouldn’t be the same without you or me.
Who were you put here to bless? What mission on this earth were you specifically designed for? What spiritual gifts has He blessed you with; don’t say none! Who cannot imagine their life without you? Think of them. Then think of others that mean the world to you. Thank God for them every day, and then go see how you can be a blessing to those closest to you today.
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