“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

Acts 4:32 (NIV)

The sight of a large truck being loaded with household items will elicit the following prayer from me, “Lord, thank You that this truck is not parked at my house.” Our family has moved many times because of my husband’s military career. After each move, there is a tremendous push to put things away. Inevitably, I run out of energy and cannot face another decision on where something should go. Therefore, piles of items remain in various rooms to trip over or maneuver around as we settle into a new place.

One such pile was in the middle of my bedroom floor. It contained seventeen pairs of my husband’s shoes, boots, and sandals. I did not want to put his shoes away, but he could not put his shoes away since he was deployed to Iraq with an additional four pair of boots and one pair of running shoes

His shoes were a constant reminder of his absence and how desperately I wanted him to return safely so I could berate him in person about his extravagant number of shoes. I was unwilling to face the pile of shoes, because I could not face him being so far, far away. When I told my youngest son that Daddy was far, far away, he replied, “Zeke go far, far away!” I wished we could, but we could not.

My husband collects both shoes and coffee cups. My parents’ neighbor collected so much more. He moved out of his house after living there for 30 years, and his children discovered he owned thirty-two coats and three anvils. The children were unsuccessful in their attempt to convince their father that he did not need three anvils.

Watching the excess of unused items being removed from her neighbor’s house, Mom was inspired to clean out her basement and give away all the strange gifts she had received from me. I told her to donate it all, except for the saber. You never know when you might need a saber…probably as often as you need an anvil.

Mom planned to donate the gifts to the thrift store where she volunteers. All the money earned at the thrift store is used to send Bibles to countries around the world. Yet, donating these items was difficult for her, for she felt as if she was “giving away a small part of someone she loved.”

We all keep piles in our life that we are unwilling to face. The piles may be in our basements, in our cabinets, in our attics, or in our hearts. We must ask ourselves if we are holding onto these things for a useful purpose. Do these items inspire us to pray or give thanks? Do we truly need them to reinforce our memories and hopes? Can we give away something we value for someone we value more – our Savior Jesus Christ?

The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12: 15-21) describes the imbalance of storing up for the future while not being rich toward God. When we trust God to provide for us in the future, we do not need to hold so tightly to what we have and are therefore freed to meet the needs of others in the present.

Dear Lord, You have provided for me abundantly and I have so many blessings in my life. Help me to understand the value of my possessions and awaken in me the awareness of other’s needs. Grant me the energy and the perseverance I need to transform my blessings into blessings for others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

Evaluate your belongings and locate items to give away or sell. Find someone in need and bless them. Sell items online or at a yard sale and donate the money to a ministry you feel prompted by God to support. Donate items to a thrift store in your area that supports the Lord’s work.

Reflections:

Do you need all of your possessions?

Does someone near you need assistance?

Can a church today have “no needy person among them”?

Power Verses:

Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 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.”

Acts 4:34-35 (NIV) “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

Last night, Gabe said, “Mom, tomorrow’s December 1st and you forgot to get the chocolate calendars!” Boys after the ages of 7 love to be know-it-alls. They view themselves as so much smarter than their mothers and inform their mothers of this fact throughout the day.

I have developed the following response to this “I’m smarter than you attitude” based on education completed. For me, I say, “The day you start your Master’s Degree at University is the day you are smarter than me. Until that day, I am smarter than you whether you believe it or not.” If you did not go to college, you may adjust this remark to , “The day you start college or trade school is the day you are smarter than me. Until that day, I am smarter than you whether you believe it or not.”

Hopefully, by the time that day comes they’ll be out of the house and no longer driving you nuts. When I told Gabe this, he replied, “The day I start my Masters degree, I’m going to call you on the phone and say, ‘Mom, I’m smarter than you’.” I’m certain he will. The kid will probably get a phD, just to prove how much smarter he is than his mother. If he wasn’t so like his mother in doing whatever it takes to prove someone wrong, it would be easier to stomach.

Not wanting only to prove his mother wrong, last night he decided to prove his aunt wrong as well. Every year my brother-in-law’s mom sends me a wreath she makes from the pines on her land in Northern Minnesota. Whenever I open the box, the smell of home greats me.

Considering this a good task for Gabe, I told him to hang the wreath under the lights by the door. I asked him to check if his daddy had any wire and a wire cutter for the task. He declared, “I’m going to use a pipe cleaner, it has wire in it.” I was on the phone with my sister at the time and she commented that she didn’t think that would hold. After hearing this comment, Gabe was determined to prove her wrong.

He found a 10 pound exercise hand weight and tied it under a chair using the pipe cleaner to test the pipe cleaner’s strength. (The boy spends an excessive amount of time watching myth busters, his new favorite show, and is constantly relaying to me how the two guys have proven or disproved something.) The kid is destined to be a mechanic or engineer or maybe a mad scientist.

The wreath is now hanging by a pipe cleaner safely outside under the light. It looks lovely.

However, even though he had proven my sister wrong, he was behind the power curve with the chocolate calendars. Abby informed him of this fact, “Gabe, Mom buys the calendars in,like, August!” (Eye roll for emphasis)

She was close. Not quite August, but October. At the Commissary (military grocery store) they put out the German Christmas items at the same time as the Halloween candy. I buy them right away every year and store them away for fear of repeating the mistake of waiting too long and finding them sold out.

I first started buying them for Dale and I when we were assigned to Germany in the early 1990s. The calendars are a simple thin rectangle of cardboard with little doors to open from 1 to 24. Under each door is a piece of chocolate pressed into a holiday shape (present, tree, candle, etc.)

You eat a piece of chocolate and count down the days until Christmas. In my opinion, a fabulous tradition.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

I walked in the woods to hear God’s voice because all around me other voices intruded. I looked and listened for Him, but it was the enemy I heard first. “Don’t go walking in the woods alone,” he said. “You could be lost or injured. No one would search for you. Feel fear. See threat.” I began to mentally prepare for an attack and for getting lost. Then I heard God’s voice say, “Fear not.” So, I took those fearful thoughts into captivity, and walked on.

I walked in the woods to see God’s creation because all around me man’s creations intruded. God’s beauty shone in the small waterfalls of the creek; He made His power heard in the wind rushing through the trees; He revealed His restoration of life in the moss on the rocks. So many days I forget to look at His creation. The sky, the stars, the leaf, the flower, the rain, the mountain, the ocean, the rock, the bird all testify to the Creator.

A memory rose up. I was young and walked in different woods with my pastor. He stooped down and picked a flower. It was a Queen Anne’s Lace growing by the path. “I will show you why I believe in a Creator,” he said. Amidst all the tiny white flowers that made up the blossom, he showed me a small purple flower at the center. My pastor asked, “Who but the Creator would pay attention to such detail?”  I remembered to praise God for His creation and walked on.

I walked in the woods to find God’s purpose because all around me my purpose intruded. Praying, thinking, and pondering, I mulled over teachings and songs, successes and failures, sins and inadequacies. The dark brown of the trees, the dark green of the leaves, and the dark black of the earth all contributed to the darkening of the forest and the darkening of my thoughts.

Ahead, I saw something different, something unique. A white birch tree, reflecting the light of the sun, stood out amongst the darkness. It was not perfect. It had flaking bark, broken branches, and a crooked lean. I stopped.

“This is your purpose,” God said. “Shine forth My light in the dark place.” Again I am reminded that God does not need perfect vessels to shine His light to the world. He just needs willing ones. We may be flaky and broken, different and odd. “God couldn’t use me,” we think and we would be wrong. For when we are surrendered to Christ, it is He who shines through us.

Dear Lord, open my heart, so I will hear You. Reveal your creation to me, so I will praise You. Use me: flaky, broken and bright, so I will reflect You. I pray, through all this, unbelievers would see Your grace and come to know You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

Take a walk in the woods or in a park and listen for God’s voice. Look for a unique part of God’s creation you have not previously noticed. Praise God for this creation. Believe that you are a unique part of God’s creation and praise God for making you. Shine forth His light.

Reflections:

Are you listening for God’s voice?

Are you praising God for His creation?

Are you fulfilling the purpose God has for you?

Power Verses:

Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV) “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Romans 1:20 (NIV) “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Galatians 2:20 (NIV) “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Mark 10:15 (NIV)

I watched my five-year old son squirm as the doctor listened to his heart. He tried to sit still, but today was his Kindergarten physical, and the stethoscope was cold. I distractedly listened to the doctor, but in the back of my mind I was rehearsing the “why we need vaccinations” speech I would soon be giving to my son. “Your son has a heart murmur,” the doctor said.  These words finally broke through my thoughts. I had heard these same words many years before concerning my eldest son, now a teenager.  At the time, those words had generated panic and fear, but now I received them calmly.

Years ago, after finding a heart murmur in my eldest son, a pediatric cardiologist performed tests on him and declared his murmur innocent. Today, I recalled this experience and replied, “Will my son be tested?” The doctor responded yes and made arrangements for the follow up appointments. After she left the room, I began to explain to my five-year old son that a new doctor would take pictures of his heart. I said, “The doctors and nurses will look at the pictures to check your heart.” He paused and thought on this for a moment and then replied, “Will they see God?”

At first, I didn’t understand what he was asking me.  The question took me completely by surprise. I wondered briefly if he had developed a mature theological understanding of finding the evidence of God in those things God has created. In confusion, I replied, “No, when the doctors and nurses look at the pictures, they will just see the outside, top and bottom of your heart. They won’t see God.” “Yeah,” he responded, “I think He is in the middle.”

The full import of what he said struck me profoundly. He had asked God into his heart, and since he asked God, he fully believed God would be there. My husband and I told him this truth; the Pastor told him this truth; his Sunday School and Preschool teachers told him this truth. So, to his five-year old mind, the doctors and nurses should be able to see God because God is in his heart.

He had received the kingdom of God like a little child, in faith. There is no other way to receive it.  We cannot earn our way into it. We cannot study our way into it. We cannot pray our way into it. There is no other way. We must have faith to believe God sent His Son to die on a cross for our sins and God’s Son, Jesus Christ, rose three days later. We need only to repent, accept Him as Savior, and ask Him to enter our life.

Dear Lord, help me to understand that I cannot earn my salvation. You have given me a free gift. Forgive my sins and create a clean heart in me. Grant me child-like faith to believe You have entered my life and You will never leave me. Live through me so others will see You in me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

Imagine a picture of your own heart and look to see if God is in it. If He is not, ask Him in. If you have asked Him into your heart, consider what evidence others would see of God there. Check this evidence against the attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control).

Reflections:

Have you received the kingdom of God like a little child?

Are you trying to earn your salvation?

Do you believe God is in your heart and He will never leave you?

Power Verses:

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV)

Romans 5 1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (NIV)

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

I walked into the hospital room prepared to face the reality of the damage caused by my father’s stroke. The left side of his body was unresponsive, and he had lost the left peripheral vision in both eyes. He could not feel anyone touching his left arm or his left leg, nor could he pull up to a sitting or standing position because his left side weighted him down. Inside I felt devastated; outside I attempted to be helpful.

The rehabilitation doctor came in and worked with my dad’s left arm and left leg. Dad felt nothing and could not perform any of the tasks set before him. My discouragement increased. The doctor departed and the occupational therapist entered and helped transfer my dad to a wheelchair. Dad wheeled himself down the hallway using only his right arm and right leg.

Suppressing the urge to help him, I followed, listened and learned. In the physical therapy room, the therapist placed my dad behind a counter and had him work on pulling up to a standing position. She told him to use both arms and placed his dead left arm up on the counter. Dad attempted to pull up with his right hand and stand with his right foot. The left hand would inevitably fall down and unbalance him. The therapist picked up the left hand repeatedly, placed it back on the counter and told him to use both hands.

I wanted to yell, “Can’t you see his left hand is dead? What you are asking is impossible!” I stayed quiet, but it was difficult. After several therapy sessions, the therapist began to share an amazing stroke patient study. The therapists work and act as if the hand will respond. When patients talk to their hand and tell it to move, they recover ability faster than when the therapist talks to the hand or when no one speaks to the hand. Dad joked, “No wonder you put me in my own room, since I’ll be talking to myself.”

I understood now. The therapist spoke of faith, believing in what we cannot see. Dad could have faith, not in the hand, but in the One who created the hand. Faith is hard work and having faith without doubting, even harder. Yet, as the days passed, I saw my dad’s left shoulder lift, his upper left arm move, and his response to touch slowly return.

We all experience difficult times in life. We may want to say to the Heavenly Father, “Can’t you see it is dead? What you are asking is impossible!” Our Heavenly Father, however, asks us not to have faith in ourselves or in our abilities. He asks us instead to have faith in our Creator.

Dear Heavenly Father, my situation is difficult and overwhelming. I fear it is impossible. Yet, You are the Creator. Help my faith to grow as I focus on who You are and all You have done. Continue to work in my life and heart so I will have Your perspective in my impossible situations. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

Write down your dead or impossible situations. View those situations through aspects of God’s character and teachings. Focus your prayers on the Creator and all He can do. Pray for your faith to grow from “I do believe; help my unbelief” to “mountain move from here to there.”

Reflections:

Is your faith in your abilities or in God’s character?

Is anything impossible for God?

Can you view your situation with eyes of faith?

Power Verses:

Matthew 17:18-20, “Jesus rebuked the demon and, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (NIV)