Devotion 401 - Stars

Daddy used to say everyone should move every five years or at least pretend that you are.

He didn’t.  When we finally packed up the family homestead, it had been more than thirty beautiful years.  A lot gets tucked away in three decades; a lot gets tucked away in one decade.

It had been a fast ten years when we tackled our kitchen.  Every cabinet and every drawer stuffed with stuff.  I brandished one rule, if I hadn’t missed it, or used it, it goes.

I packed a handful of boxes and almost held true to my word.

There were a few things, call them sentimental things, I couldn’t part with.  I packed those in a big plastic tub with a sturdy lid.  The box and its memories made its way to our storage room. Then, I packed one smaller box.

 These were things I knew I needed but hadn’t assigned the right spot. That box sits near my desk. One day, one industrious day in the future, I will sort that box, but for now, it is a not so elegant pile of zip lock bags, lost buttons, scissors and screw drivers.

 

I sat at my desk, my back turned to the messy box that waits for me.  I heard the rustle of a zip lock bag. Our kitten finds great pleasure in zip lock bags. I ignored her, confident she might play with one or perhaps two of the bags but also sure she could not open them.  I had sealed them all. I am good at storing. It’s getting rid of and giving away that challenges me.

In as much time as I was thinking about the rustle, it was gone and so was the kitten.  I forgot about the sound and the bag until I walked through the room.  There was a trail.

 

I remembered packing this little bag.  It was a hundred or so confetti stars.  They were purchased from the dollar store.  I had every intention to throw them away but I remembered how pretty they were reflecting the candlelight at a dinner we hosted not so long ago. I grabbed a zip lock bag and stored them.  I am good at that.

Now the stars covered the floor.  The light of the western sun reflected off them like a glimmering sea. I had to admit they were far lovelier awash on the carpet then stored in a bag.

I had finished my devotions, finished my prayers.  I was looking for a distraction.  I sat and stared at those stars for a long time.  I needed to get the vacuum or another zip lock bag but there was something in these shimmering stars that spilled out into my soul.

I keep far too much not in bags or boxes but down deep in my soul.  It is there buried among good prayerful intentions that I store control and fear.

Prayer should be a conversation, mine are often monologues.

I ask but advise.

I thank but then theorize.

I give with one hand all my doubts 

then with the other hand, I pull them back.

The stars stare back at me. 

Their beauty was not in their order or the fact that that they had once been displayed on a candlelit table.  Their beauty was in being free and independent of order, plan and control.  That is my beauty as well.

It is God’s job to save people; it is my job to notice them, embrace them, and to love them.

It is God’s job to solve problems, it is mine to bring them to Him and release them into His care.

It is God’s job to be glorious; but we must know how to reflect that glory.

The crazy, uncanny thing is He doesn’t need our help.  He wants it.  He chooses us to be the stars poured out on the carpet, in the office, in the street and  in the store, so those who see us can get a glimpse of Him. 

If I or if we are controlling freaks, we are not giving a glimpse of Him.  Rather we are showing folks something they simply will want no part of.   Chances are they know well and good how to control and how to worry.

We need to show the world something different, something crazy, something free and something surrendered.  It is true and extraordinary joy.  

It is only then we can feel Jesus and others can see Him in us.

 

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.   

Col 3:1-5