Ladies of the 80's, hell has officially frozen over. I'm here to announce that I bought two hair scrunchies at Victoria's Secret yesterday! Yes. Two, 1980's hair scrunchies. I had about 307 of these hideous things back in the day, no doubt caked with Final Net hair spray, but they could have been easily washed and sold for apparently $3.00 each right now. Remember Final Net? Had I only saved them. Why didn't I save them?
This happens all the time with EVERY SINGLE FASHION ITEM EVER if you haven't already noticed. I just knew bell bottoms would NEVER rear their ugly heads again and BAM, I currently have three pair hanging in my closet. Of course had I kept the old ones, it wouldn't have mattered. Maybe my niece Canyon might have been able to wear them because I believe I was 7 years old at that time. But when this stuff comes back in style and I had A TON OF THEM, I almost feel guilty that I didn't save them. It's such a waste to get rid of stuff and then it come back in twenty or thirty years just for me to buy it all again. Twenty or thirty years. Did you hear that ridiculousness? We can't be hoarders. I want to be a hoarder. I kind of am a hoarder because, I like my stuff. If you mention "my stuff" to the Cowboy, you can immediately see annoyance spread across his gorgeous face. "My stuff" is one of his biggest pet peaves. "We all know how you feel about your stuff." Or, "Yes, I know it's YOUR STUFF." Well, it IS MY STUFF! I worked hard for my stuff and I want to keep it and it's mine. I just need him to build me a bigger house with bigger closets and bigger garages and bigger storage units. Okay...do we see a problem brewing here? Unfortunately, I do. #trishisahoarder
The Bible is pretty specific about your stuff. Matthew 6:19-21 says "Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So let's think about that for a minute. Unfortunately, I've been thinking about it a lot. It's a real buzz kill for me too. Buying useless crap is kind of my thing and my therapy. I actually have a magnet collection. And apparently a clothes and shoes collection. I also collect Christmas ornaments. Guess what's on all of them? A lot of dust. Why? Well, Christmas comes once a year. I use those ornaments FOR ONE MONTH and then away they go, packed up, covered in the dust from the prior 27 years. Do you dust your ornaments? I know I never have. My clothes? I am only one person who rarely leaves the ranch. In fact, this is also apparently an issue of concern with my family. I'm a hoarder who is apparently, turning antisocial. I wear the same gross sweats and sweatshirts every, single week. I have beautiful clothes and dresses that will never touch the likes of my body so what in the world am I doing keeping them? Well that's just it. I'm doing the world. I totally bought in to "the world." I'm Babylon. (That's a whole other story.)
I started this Bible study written by Courtney Joseph and Beverly Wise a couple of weeks ago on Ecclesiastes. Let's just say if you are in a bad mood or feeling low during the holidays, this is not the book of the Bible to start reading. DO NOT READ THE FIRST CHAPTER. In fact, I was already feeling down and I'd written to my Bible Study group about just that very thing. This is what I wrote.
"I have been in a terrible funk. Really unhappy, almost angry. I had a nice Christmas but just don’t feel like me. I feel overwhelmed, overburdened and under appreciated. I’m sure we all do. I started a Bible Study between our break to keep me focused and unfortunately chose Ecclesiastes. Talk about depressing. I decided to continue because surely God had a plan for me in reading it but honestly the first chapter had me wondering why I try at all? Nothing we do matters is basically what Solomon, the wisest man to ever live in the world is saying.
And then I finally came to this. Psalm 90:14 “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days.” All we need is God. None of this other stuff matters. I have to come to grips with the fact that some things I simply cannot change but can still rejoice and be glad in it.
I hope you all, and me too, have a wonderful new year. I hope I have a new attitude and a forgiving heart. I hope we can learn to rejoice in the chaos and always choose love, even if the only thing it changes is us."
My sister, who never replies to anything in the group said this. "Grace is a strange thing. Hard to accept; hard to give; hard to encourage others to give but it’s the best thing all of us can do for ourselves and others to have a happy heart. I am grateful for you and the grace you have given me throughout my life. I love you, TT. Happy New Year!"
I was speechless. Her words soothed hurting my soul. I was also taken back by the fact that my little sister can actually teach me a thing or two when I listen to her. I was "graced" with God's presence through her and man did I need it right then.
I never thought about grace being able to be given by anyone but God. Grace is the name of my church. Grace is what God gives all of us all daily and mentioned often but I never thought about it being given "by" me or "to" me from others. That was my very own new year epiphany.
The Cowboy gives me grace daily by letting me continue to live here hoarding all my stuff. I give him grace by cleaning up after him and attempting not to pull out my hair when he buys two more horses because apparently, he collects horses. And cows. His collections make money. Mine collect dust. Oh but they are to "replace others" who are currently LOOKING AT ME amongst the other 24. Where are they going? I mean they are old but YOU AREN'T RIDING THEM NOW!!! Am I already replaced too? I hope she likes to work. Hahahahahahaha! I digress.
The world tries to tell us we need this, we need that, do this, do that, all to make us happy, make us thin, make us rich. The talk shows and commercials are all about "What have you done for me lately?" and "You deserve this" and ME ME ME. Well the thing is, it's not about you. It's about Him. And as long as we continue to try and please ourselves with the things of this world, we will simply never be happy. We will never feel satisfied with anything and our cleaning bills will be astronomical.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, figured out that we will all be forgotten. All the things we work for, even if you are a genius, will be left to someone else who might just throw it all away or sell it off in pieces or parcels or parts. Nothing that we work for and accumulate matters because you cannot take it with you. We all just die. Want to go hang yourself yet? I know I did. But it goes on. Finally, Ecclesiastes 2:24 gets to his point. "There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to the one who is good in God's sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind."
Courtney Joseph explains it like this. "It's the simple things. Eating, drinking and working, those come from the hand of God. These are good things. These are daily mercies that should bring us pleasure. We do not have to go chasing after every rainbow! We can come around the dinner table with family or friends and be refreshed. We can relax in the evening after a hard day of honest work and be content. Enjoyment comes from the hand of God. God has given His children wisdom, knowledge and joy. It is the unsaved sinner who has to toil and be about the business of collecting and gathering. That is not our business - that is vanity."
The Bible says a lot about work. I am really proud that my family kills it in the work department. We all work really hard and because of it, God has given us much joy and much to be thankful for. I believe He rewards us for our work and we have been overly blessed. I love to whine and complain about how busy I am but I really do have a wonderful life. Our family also does really well in the "eating, drinking and enjoyment" department. We are so blessed that we have each other and enjoy our time together to the fullest. Did you read what Solomon wrote? "Enjoyment comes from the hand of God." That's pretty cool stuff right there people.
We really do reap what we sow. So sow grace. Sow joy. Sow love. Let's get those closets cleaned out and occasionally buy a new hair scrunchy 30 years later instead of saving them for the mice to party in. I think our children will thank us that they don't have 407 storage totes to get rid of. Mine won't because currently, they do. Hahahahahaha! But I'm learning. I'm gaining wisdom because I'm studying His Word. It's not about me. It's about Him. #showgrace
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