It’s funny when we think our time is our own. God constantly reminds me that mine is certainly not. My plans are not His plans. My schedule is not His schedule. When I think I’m at my breaking point, He does things like, my moms face swelling up while I’m filthy dirty and have things in the oven. And I didn't go immediately and get her? WHO DOES THAT? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???? Or sending Quincy into false labor while I’m frantically trying to get the rest of the stuff out of the rental property. I have 475 things to do in 2 days and yet...they can wait. How??? My neck so tense it’s about to snap off my head. He makes sure a load of bulls come in just about the time I’m done for the day and ready to start “my” list. Why? Because "my" list is not "His" list.
We need to breathe. We need to relax. We need to remember what’s really important and what is simply, not. Things can wait. Stuff is eventually trash anyway. I have certainly learned that valuable lesson this past month in a hard way. “Store up your treasure in heaven where moth and rust won’t destroy.” God wasn’t kidding about that one.
As most of you know we own two Air B&B's. Well, we "owned" two Air B&B's. Quincy and Colt have lived in one for the past two years and we rented the other one as normal. Quincy and Colt bought a farm and so they recently moved out and since I was so selfish in making them store their stuff and use mine, I graciously agreed to let them take and keep whatever they wanted. So they basically emptied my house. It's all good. I had to put it somewhere.
We sold the other one, a giant house, and all of that furniture ALSO had to go somewhere. We moved some of it into the little house that they moved out of. I made it into a doll house BTW with all of the beautiful things I've collected over the years. So back up a little. Quincy and Colt moved back from Texas. Emma moved back from Texas. Each of these three children had homes in Texas. Fully furnished, functioning homes. So, the Cowboy bought a reefer trailer to store all of our stuff, their stuff and my stuff that wouldn't fit in the original "one" rental, which became two. Try and follow me here. I know it's confusing. You should be inside my brain right now. Wow.
So, we stored all of this stuff in this big trailer and guess what a reefer does when it's not plugged in and "sealed?" It molds. It mildews. Almost everything that was fabric, was ruined. Retail was probably $10,000 worth of stuff that we literally threw in a dumpster. And at that point, we were thrilled to do it. SO MUCH STUFF!
It was stored for so long that we didn't even remember it was there. When something is in storage and you cannot see it, you forget about it. Let's read that again and really think about it. If you cannot see something...YOU FORGET ABOUT IT. (That could be a whole sermon right here.) And when you forget about it, you buy it again. We had SEVEN VACUUMS. I was so frustrated and mad and sad all at once. So fast forward. We sold the big rental. Everything had to come out. This is when Q and Colt took all they wanted and I crammed the rest in the Bunkhouse and every closet and storage shed I have. In doing this, I can't reach my Christmas ornaments. In order to decorate, I will have to MOVE EVERYTHING AGAIN. So when God said "Store up your treasure in Heaven," He wasn't just saying don't buy a bunch of worthless crap that will do you no good at all, he was also trying to do you a solid. I am sorry I am such a slow learner Lord. You have my undivided and full attention now. I literally walked away from Christmas stuff in Hobby Lobby last week. Walked. Away, I'm a new woman.
Here's the moral of this story folks. People are what matter. We all need to cherish the time with our loved ones because time, well that’s the gift. And we are not promised another day. ESPECIALLY AFTER THE YEAR WE'VE HAD. TIME TOGETHER IS THE KEY.
So this Christmas, I’m doing less with stuff and more with people. My nieces and nephews are going to have a bit of a culture shock when Aunt Trish passes out two gifts instead of ten in a few weeks but I'm just over it and they are tough. They'll make it through, Plus they all got a ton of furniture from our houses too so Santa already came through for them.
My tree is about 12 inches tall. I want to go and cut one really bad but that would require me to find my ornaments buried in storage. 7 vacuums. 7! At least it’s a biblical number.
This Christmas is going to be about love. Because love was born on Christmas Day and it wasn’t in a big fancy, fully decorated house. It was in a stable. Mine is currently so dirty that it’s similar. And you know what? It’s okay. God is with us. Even when we can't feel Him. Even when we just aren't in the spirit, the Spirit is sill with us. God is with us. Tiny trees and all.
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