A few months ago I started on a quest to simplify and declutter our home. (You can read about some of those 'adventures' in earlier blog posts from last spring). I have made pretty good progress on that project, yet one room has become a complete disaster area! It has turned into the dumping ground of things I don't quite want to handle in the decluttering process. It is also our guest room, so I told my husband a few days ago "we need to have some company come visit, I think that is the only way I will finish cleaning up this room!" You see, nearly every area of that room has been covered in boxes, overflowing baskets of pictures, childhood school papers, clothing, unfinished craft projects and more. There are so many items that hold sentimental value, I just don't quite know how to move forward in the decluttering process, so it is easier to close the door and ignore.
The rest of our home is beautifully adorned right now with my large collection of Christmas decorations. Though I have eliminated many things from cabinets (including dishes, many clothes, cookbooks and so much more) my Christmas things are too valuable to me to let go, for many reasons. Most of the items have been passed down from loved ones or hold great memories. They may not be the latest trend in the decor magazines, or the most perfectly arranged vignette for a photo shoot, but they help me surround myself with a blanket of love. Some people do spring cleaning - not me, I do Christmas cleaning! A thorough dusting, vacuuming, 'move the furniture' kind of cleaning in order to display my mom's tiny Noel candle holders, my collection of nutcrackers from over a 30 year period (and I remember fondly each person that gave me one), or the ceramic Santa mugs that Judy and I drank from each Christmas as children, (they are so crazed now that I wouldn't dare put any liquid in them for fear they will fall apart). We have a nativity creche that was given to my husband by a dear friend when his wife died suddenly and he knew that this special Christmas piece needed to be passed along. I have school ornaments from our daughter and now new ones starting to appear from our grand daughters. Each one tells a story and as I bring them out of the boxes I get to tell those stories. I guess you could say that Christmas is about the "stuff" for me, but not in the way you might think.
Today I want you to think of another person mentioned in the lineage of Jesus (you can find that family tree in the first chapter of the book of Matthew). Rahab was a prostitute. While yesterday we visited Tamar, who pretended to be one, Rahab actually was. Yes, a prostitute in the line of Jesus! Rahab also sheltered spies, hiding them at great risk to herself and her loved ones. Her story reads like an exciting drama and I hope you will read it sometime today - Joshua 2:1-21.
When I read these stories again, of Tamar and Rahab, they remind me of the fact that God can use each of us. Not just the best dressed, the wealthiest, the most eloquent or the prettiest - but He has a purpose for each of us. What people in your life would you not expect God to use or speak through? When have you witnessed God using an unlikely person to accomplish His work? When talking and dealing with the spies Rahab states that she knows of God's great works, she recognizes who God is and then aligns herself on His side, at great risk and possibly even death. When we judge people by what we see we may not know the whole story. It may be easy to discount someone because we don't approve of who or what they are...... Rahab stated what she believed about God even though she could have thought "who would believe a prostitute"? Do we have that boldness inside of us? What are YOUR core beliefs about God, and are you willing to state them and stand up for them even at risk of your own existence or ridicule from others? God used Rahab.
I don't want to just hoard the secret of Christ deep in my heart and let it gather dust and be hidden from the world. I do, however, hide that treasure just like my Christmas items. I treasure my relationship with God and I care for it, guard it and share it. I may only bring my Christmas treasures out once a year, but the treasure of Christ is hidden in my heart and it comes out daily in my words, my actions, and my thoughts. Now the challenge: are others seeing Christ in me as the treasure that he is, or are they seeing my hoarded secrets of anger, bitterness, envy, worry........ that is what I will be pondering today. The treasure of Christ. At times I have let those hoarded things overflow and spew out of me, this advent I'm focusing on the treasures. How about you? When you open the door to your heart what do others see?
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