Treasure

So…I am in the midst of a major clean out.  I am reading this book called "7" by Jen Hatmaker and it's so eye opening.  I LOVE to clean out, to organize and do it often…but to be honest I do it for me.  I empty my closet so I can buy more.  I give away something…so I can buy something else. I love giving away things, I love giving gifts… BUT I feel like God is really working on changing my heart.  Opening my eyes to be able to be see my excess as someone else's TREASURE.  To be able to clean out our stuff, my stuff and NOT to fill it back up, but to live a more simplistic life.  No I am not turning into a minimalist, we are not selling everything we own and moving to a shack in the country…while some of that actually oddly appeals to me.  It allows more space for God.  More margin

But I want to share some of what God is doing…

This is part of a note that came from a dear friend today when I shared that Drew and I went through his tee shirt drawers this morning.  He has a HARD time giving HIS things…HARD…and I understand that.  I wanted him to approach it as his stuff being a blessing to some other teenage boy.  NOT that I was taking stuff from him.  If he really LOVED a tee shirt, I am not making him give it away.  But if it is one he doesn't wear and is keeping because someone gave it to him, or it was free… i.e. his Street Smarts tee shirt…he doesn't have to hold onto it just BECAUSE. There are teenage boys in Des Moines with 2 maybe 3 tee shirts of their own.  IN DES MOINES….and his drawers couldn't shut.

(that was a long intro to this based off of Beth Moore's bible study on James)

In a couple places in the study, she talks about "stuff."  One thing that really jumped off the pages to me when I did the study and I just thought of again now with your comment about wanting Drew's focus to be on blessing others and especially teenage boys...  "Use it or abuse it....It's having without using....In part...withholding what we don't even use from others who'd treasure it.  All of us are accustomed to the saying 'use it or lose it' but, the fact is, we're going to lose it all anyway.  We're not taking one ounce of this stuff with us when we die.

The part that really strikes me is the withholding from those who will treasure it.  My excess can be somebody else's treasure.  Treasure.  Humbling."

The word TREASURE jumps out at me…you mean the bins of stuff I am storing just "because" can really be someone else's TREASURE?  Gulp.  Humbling and convicting…all in a good way.  I want our family to have a heart like that.  I want to have a heart like that...