THIS WON’T TAKE LONG

It started with an idea.  My grandchildren are no longer into crafts with grandma.  They are “too old” for water colors, crayons and stickers.  Hopefully, there will be great-grandchildren to join into my creative fun someday, but, right now, there seemed to be no good reason to keep those supplies.  They will dry out and be no good to anyone.  I would give those supplies to a friend with grandchildren just the right age.

I opened the drawers holding the markers.  There were a lot more markers than I remembered.  Keeping back a few, I put the rest into bags.  (Did you get the plural on bags?)  The crayons came next.  Thinking hard I tried to remember why I had so many boxes of crayons.  Oh well.  I kept one box and the rest were placed in another bag.  The construction paper was picked over.  Why do brown, black and that one shade of green never get used?  The paper disappeared into the bag.  I was quickly getting closer to the end.  Yes, we had fun making decorations with those little pieces of Perler plastic that you put on a form and then iron so they stick together.  I also had fun stepping on the ones that somehow escaped and were trying to get away.  Into the sack they went.  DONE! 

Or so I thought.  There was only one problem.  The space taken up by unused crafts was now empty.  Opening the doors to my sewing supply closet, I figured I would quickly move a few items into those drawers.  I figured wrong!  I did sort some items into the drawers.  But that left an empty space on the shelf.  I moved items around and filled that space. Then….

Do you see what happens with one small idea?  I ended up cleaning the closet.  When did I ever think I would use a very small triangle of hot pink fabric?  I started pitching pieces of material too small to use.  I moved items to another closet that had somehow migrated from their original location.  Of course, I also rearranged that closet.  There were items in the closet I had no use for.  Mattress pad covers that were so lumpy no self-resecting dog would even lay on them.  Into the trash they went. 

Then, the floor needed sweeping.  You do not clean without making a mess!  So the closet was cleaned, the floor swept but that made the dust show on the bookcase.  Why did I not turn out that light bulb that went off in my head and made me want to give those craft supplies away!

Have you ever had this happen to you?  One small idea, which should not take long to accomplish, that leads to another and another and another and….

I tell about my day because there is something I am very guilty of.  I study to teach Sunday School or when taking a Bible Study and I read this and that to help me be a better Christian.  I search the scriptures.  I google.  I can fill myself with a lot of knowledge.  What I need to do is dig deep, find a really big trash bag and get rid of all the things I no longer need, such as old habits, things I have believed that are not Biblical, and wanting things my way.  That will mean there is room for God to fill up my heart and load down my inner being with patience (I really need that), kindness, compassion, love …..

And then God can sweep up the mess I made and dust the bookcase.

(Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians)  For this reason I kneel before the Father, for whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:14-19

What do you need to toss out so God can fill you?