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Monday, November 10, 2008

Taking Inventory

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[November 10, 2008]-Recently I completed moving from a larger home to one significantly smaller. As I was standing in the garage unpacking boxes it seemed the garage was a metaphor for life. During this season of the year we often pause to reflect on the year that is coming to a close and thus we take our personal inventory.

There are memories of a past—some to put away and some to move from. Some memories may not be good, but have lurked in the backgrounds of our lives like a shadow. Mistakes made, but being a child of God mistakes that are forgiven. We pause to wonder why we have held on to them for so long, sometimes evening thinking they had been forgotten, but for this brief time they return., By the light of God’s wonderful grace the hurts of the past can be banished if we let them!

Then there are memories to cherish and hold dear ---remembering happy times and loved ones gone before. Sometimes we pause for a few tears as we feel the familiar tug on our heartstrings as we go through pictures and cards from years ago. How thankful for the good times God had given us; for His Love and for the many blessings we have all received—loving family members, wonderful friends and experiences that make us, I hope, better human beings.

The present things come next--- useful items, things for living today. Fewer now, items that will serve us well in our new home. Practical household items, current photographs in their frames ready to be hung, useful items for living in our new home. Looking at each item as I took it out of the box, deciding whether to keep or give away I needed to be purposeful in my efforts to simplify. I became convicted of the sin of acquisition and remembered that in Matthew 6:21 we are told “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

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Nursing Homes
Taking inventory is remembering and celebrating the fact that I already have the best when I have Jesus Christ in my life; celebrating the new freedom by moving from the “stuff” of this worldly life to the “One who gives Life.” If you haven’t taken inventory recently I encourage it. For me, I found a new freedom and sense of peace in unburdening myself not only of the “things” but of the excess “emotional baggage” I uncovered. God is good! He uses the everyday experiences of our lives to constantly teach us and to remind us that He is a good and loving Father.

I am finally reminded of the saying by an unknown, but wise person:
“Lord, I am willing
To receive what You give;
To lack what You withhold;
To relinquish what You take;
To suffer what You inflict;
To be what You require.”

 

[By Pastor Dayle Badman
Elkhart and Beason United Methodist Churches ]

 

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