This morning, as I was rushing around getting ready to head to volunteer at the Community Harvest Food Pantry in Morton, I realized that my deep freeze had been unplugged for an unknown amount of time.
The stuff I reached in to touch was obviously already thawed. With no time to do anything this morning, I decided that when I got home this afternoon I would have to cook everything salvageable. Sounds like a lot of fun, right?
I desperately wanted to take a nap when I got home, but instead I trudged over to the freezer with a handful of garbage bags and a very little bit of hope, and started pulling things out.
Peeps from 2 Easters ago.... trash.
Broken open bag of rolls... trash.
Homemade lasagna... to the oven.
Homemade baked spaghetti... to the oven.
Uncooked Chicken strips... to the oven.
Chinese dinner in a bag... to the stove top.
Thawed steak stamped June 2011... trash.
Ice cream sandwiches (now soup)... trash.
Then I got to the box of deer meat. My heart hurt a little bit... I did not want that all to go to waste! I was not looking forward to browning 15 pounds of ground deer... I didn't even realize I had that much left! Amazingly, the deer meat wasn't thawed. I checked out the things under it including a turkey and a few other things are found that the bulk of the actual meat in my deep freeze was still frozen solid. Praise the Lord!
That's when I noticed something else. The inside of my freezer was gross. Some things had obviously been spilled and refrozen in the past. Other things were frozen into a 3inch sheet of ice on the bottom... like the container of pureed pumpkin that I remember putting in that freezer in October of 2011... (trash.)
I decided that even though it wasn't going to be fun, I had better go ahead and clean out the deep freeze. Some of the rolls from that broken bag had rolled to the bottom and were soaking up water. There was a no-longer-frozen pumpkin pie leaking into the mess as well. It was all kind of disgusting!
I think God can use things like this to teach us lessons. Especially those of us who are constantly on the run. You know who you are... how often do you stop to pray or read from a devotional or your Bible and fall asleep before you are done? When my kids were 1, 3, 5 and 9 I used fall asleep in church EVERY Sunday... because it was the only time where I had no choice but to sit still and stay quiet!
So as I'm cleaning out my freezer I hear myself say, "This freezer is a metaphor for my life!" I laugh at myself... but then I start to dissect it... I love it when I have a "Wow God" moment while I'm doing something I don't want to do! So here it is... and I think I'm sharing this because it is true for you too...
Now, I wouldn't have even looked in that freezer this weekend if it hadn't come unplugged... in the same way, I have a habit of neglecting something in my life or an area of my life until it is brought to the forefront for some reason. If I am willing to put in the work, God shows me what is worth saving and what to let go. It is a lot of hard work... it doesn't matter if you are cleaning your freezer or your friendships! But in the end that area of my life becomes more calm, more clean and organized, and not only contains good things I forgot I had... but now has room for more good things that God has in store for me.
This is one of the reasons I CHOOSE JOY... because even when the lesson is hard, even when the work is messy, even when I think I'd rather just quit... I KNOW that God has something SO MUCH BETTER in store for me...
Just think about it... What parts of your life would God love to make better for you, if you would only give it over to Him and commit to doing the work necessary?
ISAIAH 55:8-13
The stuff I reached in to touch was obviously already thawed. With no time to do anything this morning, I decided that when I got home this afternoon I would have to cook everything salvageable. Sounds like a lot of fun, right?
I desperately wanted to take a nap when I got home, but instead I trudged over to the freezer with a handful of garbage bags and a very little bit of hope, and started pulling things out.
Peeps from 2 Easters ago.... trash.
Broken open bag of rolls... trash.
Homemade lasagna... to the oven.
Homemade baked spaghetti... to the oven.
Uncooked Chicken strips... to the oven.
Chinese dinner in a bag... to the stove top.
Thawed steak stamped June 2011... trash.
Ice cream sandwiches (now soup)... trash.
Then I got to the box of deer meat. My heart hurt a little bit... I did not want that all to go to waste! I was not looking forward to browning 15 pounds of ground deer... I didn't even realize I had that much left! Amazingly, the deer meat wasn't thawed. I checked out the things under it including a turkey and a few other things are found that the bulk of the actual meat in my deep freeze was still frozen solid. Praise the Lord!
That's when I noticed something else. The inside of my freezer was gross. Some things had obviously been spilled and refrozen in the past. Other things were frozen into a 3inch sheet of ice on the bottom... like the container of pureed pumpkin that I remember putting in that freezer in October of 2011... (trash.)
I decided that even though it wasn't going to be fun, I had better go ahead and clean out the deep freeze. Some of the rolls from that broken bag had rolled to the bottom and were soaking up water. There was a no-longer-frozen pumpkin pie leaking into the mess as well. It was all kind of disgusting!
I think God can use things like this to teach us lessons. Especially those of us who are constantly on the run. You know who you are... how often do you stop to pray or read from a devotional or your Bible and fall asleep before you are done? When my kids were 1, 3, 5 and 9 I used fall asleep in church EVERY Sunday... because it was the only time where I had no choice but to sit still and stay quiet!
So as I'm cleaning out my freezer I hear myself say, "This freezer is a metaphor for my life!" I laugh at myself... but then I start to dissect it... I love it when I have a "Wow God" moment while I'm doing something I don't want to do! So here it is... and I think I'm sharing this because it is true for you too...
Now, I wouldn't have even looked in that freezer this weekend if it hadn't come unplugged... in the same way, I have a habit of neglecting something in my life or an area of my life until it is brought to the forefront for some reason. If I am willing to put in the work, God shows me what is worth saving and what to let go. It is a lot of hard work... it doesn't matter if you are cleaning your freezer or your friendships! But in the end that area of my life becomes more calm, more clean and organized, and not only contains good things I forgot I had... but now has room for more good things that God has in store for me.
This is one of the reasons I CHOOSE JOY... because even when the lesson is hard, even when the work is messy, even when I think I'd rather just quit... I KNOW that God has something SO MUCH BETTER in store for me...
Just think about it... What parts of your life would God love to make better for you, if you would only give it over to Him and commit to doing the work necessary?
ISAIAH 55:8-13
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
PS I took a picture of the inside of the freezer before I cleaned it... I'm not posting it. You're welcome. :-)
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
PS I took a picture of the inside of the freezer before I cleaned it... I'm not posting it. You're welcome. :-)