I am having my kitchen refurbished. No fancy stuff, just streamlining and getting rid of the excess baggage. My God how many wooden spoons do you need in a kitchen??!! They are everywhere jumping out at me…..Some have to go….As I am preparing for the workman to come, I say let me start on the cutlery draw.
Some of you don’t know my story. No time to tell it here, but for a couple of years I have been on the road in ministry and in transition and along the way I left stuff and have acquired stuff . The last temporary accomodation I was in, all my kitchen items were in storage , but on the day of moving in I saw a lady across the road was moving her daughter out of her house. She blessed me with so many of the essentials I needed at the time… including a ironing board. I laughed because she had everything I needed and I knew it was the hand of God again, meeting my needs.
I moved into my own forever home last year, again a blessing from God and was able to get my own stuff out of storage but just not had the time to do a sort through. It has been a whole year .. can you believe how time flies? Today is the day that anything having bits missing or broken or
too big , broad, dull, bent , crooked blunt will have to go. Tarnished brown tea stained spoons, which should be silver and shiny will have to be scrubbed bleached and polished and better scrub up or they will have to go…
Don’t you just hate it when you are drinking soup in a bowl and the spoon you have chosen just too big for your lips…??? steady…..and just not the right fit… !!! I have my special spoons and my special knives which i brought at cost but are just right for the job I want to do . I go through and bag all the ones that might help someone else.
I think about our Father and how he must also do this exercise when he is looking for a tool or a vessel to use and that tool or vessel is just not right or has become rusty or damaged. As I reflect I remember the scripture in Isaiah ‘I looked for a man but I could find no one ‘ ( Isaiah 63:5 ) so my own righteous right arm (Jesus ) was the one to bring salvation.
I will reflect more on this over the day, but as I am writing I hear the Lord talk (whisper in my ear) about threshing instruments which takes me to Isaiah 41 – This chapter speaks to me about many thing about the oft perilous journey of the called out ones ie going from place to place and the things encountered along the way as a result of being chosen of God. I include it here as I believe Father wants me to and by way of encouragement and shining a light on this my own piece : Of course it is my beloved King James Version.
2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east,
called him to his foot,
gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings?
he gave them as the dust to his sword,
and as driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them, and passed safely;
even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
4 Who hath wrought and done it,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
5 The isles saw it, and feared;
the ends of the earth were afraid,
drew near, and came.
6 They helped every one his neighbour;
and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,
and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil,
saying, It is ready for the sodering:
and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8 But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham my friend.
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
I will reflect some more on these thoughts but as I close this piece a prayer comes.
Prayer
Father, thank you for calling us and choosing us and thinking we are fit for your use.
We love to hear your voice in the quietness of the morning . Reminding us and instructing us of who we are in you. I have been very busy this morning , doing innocuous things but you have spoken to my heart. We just want to stop sometimes and be filled up again with you and so that we can help and encourage others. Help us to minister out of the overflow of what you are depositing and not seeking our own thoughts or running on empty.
Thank you for journey and the blessings and the many lessons you have taught (and are teaching us) through your word and your world. You made everything beautiful, in its time and can make everything new by the breath of your nostril.
Lord I pray that you will continue to find us fit for your service ie not too big for the cup we must sometimes sip or drink , neither thinking ourselves too small for the task you desire us to do, neither hiding away under someone else’s lamp or light.
Lord when you choose you chose well. You know the end from the beginning and what we were crafted and designed for. No one understands our idiosyncrasies like you… Each man has his own individual use, individual gift. May we find our place.
Father we want to be a sharp threshing instrument in your hands. Sometimes you will place us in hot water and when we need to become part of the necessary stir……sometimes you have to polish or bend us a little when we are going out of shape, becoming dull , disheartened or discouraged. Continue to do so . Continue to use me/us. I leave my life, my loves, my treasure, my passion, the journey and the choices I must make, in your hands.
Your daughter
Linda J
15/1/2020