Satisfying

There's something so satisfying about a productive day. I checked off numerous tasks from my "to-do" list today, including (but not limited to):

- Washing and drying three loads of laundry
- Cutting Sam's hair at home for the first time
- Clearing the basement of unnecessary trash and boxes
- Moving several boxes into newly available basement storage
- Sorting and cataloging our entire DVD collection
- Preparing and filing our federal and state tax returns
- Blogging!

I'm not sure why "blogging" is the only item on that list that I feel the need to punctuate. I'm also not entirely sure what spurred me on toward completing these tasks today, except for a lesson that has been reiterated to me numerous times over the last month: be faithful with what you have.

Whether it looks like it or not, almost all of the tasks on my to-do list stem from trying to make the most of what we already have. Sometimes life feels so disorganized and chaotic, and when that happens, I find it easier to purchase a solution than deal with it. I'm not the only one: no less than three of my favorite TV shows deal with what people do when they have too much stuff. Of course, the "solution" is only a band-aid, and without treating the causes it only masks the problem for a short time. This is both disheartening and expensive.

By taking the time today to work through many simple tasks like sorting and cleaning at home, we are peacefully combating the chaos and taking a stand against our own disorderly conduct. We are working toward faithfulness with what we have been given, which bears contentment, and frees up resources for God's work.

Thorns

"The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity."

This verse is troubling me today, because I read what it actually said and not what I assumed it said.

Normally, I get to the word "thorns" and my brain interprets that as "trials", where the ones who have heard the word of God face trials and either pass or fail. I figure, as long as I overcome the trials, I will prove my mettle like the fourth kind of seed.

The NASB equates the thorns with "worries and riches and pleasures of this life" (emphasis mine). I've never really considered that my smartphone, my Netflix membership, or even my red Swingline stapler might be thorns placed in my life, but in this context they all fit that description.

This verse forces me to take inventory and realize that so many of "my" things are simply that: mine- and I have no intention of using them for God's Kingdom. Instead of producing fruit, I sit on the spoils as a happy hoarder. I worry about what I have and whether or not I will lose it, when God's word teaches me to give it away.

There's no way to soften the blow: I need a new attitude, or my thorns will choke the life right out of me.