Filing. Paper shuffling. Categorizing. Organizing. Making room. Tossing. Freeing up.
When my younger son moved back home, my office moved upstairs. I got rid of a large desk, cabinet and bookshelves. What happened to all the stuff that stowed away nicely in all that?
It got tossed in piles on the floor until I could deal with it.
I haven't been dealing with it.
More papers and "stuff" have found their way upstairs. My piles are reproducing!
Along with finishing my memoir, I am determined this summer to face the piles and look at each one, piece by piece and find its rightful place. I hope to steer most of it towards a forever place, a paper shredder.
Step #1: Find a reasonable filing cabinet for the space in mind.
Accomplished! Thank you Lord. Craig's List came through; 10 minutes down the freeway and a connection made with a great couple of retired teachers, proudly, almost giving away a metal cabinet. My husband cleaned it up, spray painted it and we moved it upstairs. Whew!
Exactly what I needed, it included 90 file folders!
Step #2: This week, I started. Staples had the little tabby thingies. I grabbed a couple of colorful sharpies and started creating the categories and filing.
And tossing, and filing, and tossing.
I found some interesting things:
...newspaper clippings, Christmas letters, parking tickets from 10 years ago, and a certificate for free kisses from my niece!
I found some reflective things: The final report from the fire dept. about our house and the unknown cause of our fire, my son's medical card for the doctor he never would see, social security letters of denial for benefits. (I was notified eventually of his approval, but only after our son passed away). I found my dog's records, his birth certificate (AKC). In addition, an I.E.P. report for my younger son going from 6th grade to junior high. I read that cover to cover.
I found some regretful things: Lay-off notices and/or cancellations of insurance, diagnosis reports, court papers and old rental receipts from other not-so-glamourous places we lived.
I found some blessings: Stained and wrinkled thank you notes, (before Facebook and e-mail) from friends still dear in my life, reminding me and encouraging me in the Lord. I read those as well and bowed in thanksgiving. New file category: "Treasures of the Heart."
I awoke this morning thinking of my filing; how much I managed to toss; how little in importance some things seem in retrospect of so much life lived.
Does God have a filing cabinet for us? Does He need to open the drawer of our lives ever once in a while and make room for more "stuff?" Does he linger over some things and reflect? Does He find some things interesting? Do some things make Him sad?
Scripture tells us that God removes our sins, the file of our lives, as far as the East is from the West. Imagine a "Heavenly Shredder!" Once we have opened that door to our messy piles and asked Him to cleanse us, forgive us, He does just that! God doesn't see any of our sin as worse than another, or more important than another. We ALL collect, pile up, store, replace, hoard, keep secret, label, put on the bottom of the stack, something...something that keeps us from experiencing all He has for us. God wants to open that file cabinet with our name on the tab written in Gold and place inside ONE piece of paper, stamped in the Blood of Christ with the words:
BLESSED, WORTHY, FORGIVEN, PAID IN FULL, REDEEMED!
Why do we keep hanging onto some of the files in our heads that are obsolete in God's Office, or we let the devil dumster dive and retreive some things? -- You know the ones: unworthy, unforgivable, angry, resentful, a mistake. I don't. I can't let go. Impossible...
Jesus, with his back shredded from a cat-o-nine tails--leather embedded with sharp rocks, took that suffering for you. Today, He shreds your sins, makes them unrecognizable, and tosses them onto the bottom of the sea, churned and buried by the sands of forgiveness. He did this because of His great love for you, a love deeper than the deepest ocean and wider than any sea. Open your heart and hand Him one file at a time and watch His work in your life as you begin to trust Him. He'll hand it back to you filled with promises, and a freedom to do His Will. You can file this in your heart, ready to access daily as you learn to see Him in every category of your life.
Lord, If I filled up a filing cabinet with all the blessings, promises and super-natural inspirations You hand down to me, I'd need another room! You Lord, have given us pages in Your Word that You want to file away in our hearts. Help me Lord to open Your Word and store away Your redemption, Your promises and Your teachings so that I can freely walk, work and do Your will without the messy, negative piles of uncertainty and fear holding me back. Thank you Lord for the notes of encouragement I found among the papers, a reminder that You are sovereign, that You DO answer prayer in Your timing. Thank you for faithful, long-standing friends I can count on through thick and thin (files). Thank You for the reflection on my life in this mundane task, coupled with writing my memoir, that through all things, You are Good. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment