Five Years?!

Recently I was with a very special friend in my Pretty Purple Room.  As I gazed at the closet behind me, I asked him if thought I’d ever use all of these supplies I had bought for crafts and for scrapbooking.  His response?  “If you’d stop buying more, maybe you could use these up that you already have.”

Smart alec.

But his words echo in my mind today and I can’t help but smile.  This friend definitely has some wisdom and words that I should apply.  Words that I should apply today as I ponder on my life verses for this year.  In case you need a reminder of what they are, here they are from 2 Corinthians 8:10-12:

The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands.

Intentions are all well and good but until they become deeds they just...well, they sit on a shelf, much like my crafting items do.  They’re great to ponder and look upon and to think about all the wonderful things they could do and become and the beauty that could be the end result.  However, until they become tools in my hand and are put together in whatever project it is that I work on, they are just empty vessels.

This friend told me I probably had enough to keep me busy for five years.  I wouldn’t disagree with that.  This picture only partially shows the things I have to work on.  My other storage areas would reveal many more items that are just sitting there, waiting for their turn to be molded into works of art.  Compare this to the things in my mind that I think of doing and indeed:  five years could be an appropriate measure of time until their purpose has been completed!

Sigh.  But we just aren’t guaranteed time, friends, are we?  We have today and today is what matters.  Those cards I have been meaning to send?  I think I shall go back to my PPR and get them out.  They aren’t much good, are they, sitting in the box, encouraging it instead of the ones I bought them for?  Those stamps in their container don’t need to just sit there when instead they could be stuck to said cards and be put into motion, and those pens?  Yeah, now would be a good time to practice my handwriting skills as I pray over the words that I will write with them, words that will hopefully build up and motivate and perhaps even bring some smiles to some folks who could use a pick-me-up.

Goodbye then, for now.  Hopefully I can put a dent into some of these things and see you before five years is over.  😏

Let’s pray!

Dear Lord, as I purpose now to go be a doer I ask You to guide my words that will go onto these cards.  I ask You to bless the ones who are hurting that I shall be sending them to.  And mostly Lord, I thank You for this opportunity to make good use of my time instead of wasting it.  

Thank You for friends who point out the obvious and thank You for setting the example of how to be a true friend.  Your love is the difference, Father, and I pray that difference will be shown in my actions today.  In the precious name of Jesus I pray this.  Amen.