Oh happy day, my favorite day of the YEAR was when Nelle Terry would have her annual Garage Sale. Her daughter, my friend Susan, was a size up from me. I was the happy companion of Miss Susan on her shopping trips to the Big City, Dallas, for school/camp/General Conference clothing. I would happily follow Miss Susan from store to store, admiring her clothing choices and pointing out outfits I found particularly appealing. 12 months or so later…. on Garage Sale day… those babies were MINE! I remember some of them still. The burgundy cotton with lace sleeve ruffles, the grey chiffon drop waisted with a bow…. blessings.
I’m thankful, grateful, for the blessings that have come my way. Things that I NEEDED but could not afford to purchase at retail that were brought to me at a price I could afford. These indeed were blessings. However, I realize now that I have taken the idea of “good things” too far. I believed Mae West when she said “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. She was wrong. Too much of anything is…. too much.
I’ve crammed my closets, shelves and garage with things and instead of saving me, it is costing me. It is costing me time, having to dig through to find what I’m looking for. It is costing me peace, the cluttered spaces silently scream to me to be sorted and put to rights. It is costing me precious Mama-Moments, time I could be sharing with my children but have to spend dealing with the things. My blessings have become my curse.
I have to do better, I have to answer the voice inside that says “You may need it someday” with a firm, “God will supply it if I need it”. I have to realize that when I rely on MYSELF to supply my future “maybe” needs I am not trusting HIM to do it. I have to realize that it is selfish and greedy to keep grabbing/snatching/storing up things. I have to let go of the way things used to be, and live in the present. With less. With trust. Because too much of a good thing… can be a curse.
What are you calling a blessing that is cluttering up your life? Is is your schedule? Do you cram so much into your calendar that you are missing out on your family life? Are you losing influence with your spouse, children, grandchildren because you are so busy with the blessings of overtime opportunities, hobbies, personal interests, selfish actions? Do you hide behind the lie of “I’m doing it for ….” when really you are doing it out of fear of the future. Or the past.
Are you so caught up in the blessing of you family, your friends, or your ministry that you have little time for personal devotion? Are you too busy to read your Bible. To pray? Peer deeply into the closet of your heart, check the shelves of your calendar, inventory your to-do list. Not every opportunity or good deal is a blessing. Make sure you have not crowded out the eternal with the imminent. Don’t let your blessings become your curse.