I love my new house, I really do. It's starting to get that "lived in" look and I need to get things put away and remove some of the clutter that is starting to happen. Part of it is because I have started my Christmas shopping. I have to. I have a lot of people to buy for and this year it has to be smaller than in the past, so I have started early. By doing so I may pay a little more for things, but since I'm buying via Amazon, their price wouldn't change. They don't have 'black Friday sales' - I don't think. Oh wait, I think they do! I just choose NOT to participate on those days because I could get carried away. Why? Because I love to give and I love to find the unusual and surprise those I love.
I still remember a pair of golf sandals I bought for my middle child. He was so surprised and the look on his face was priceless. I've surprised the other two as well, I think, but there is a difference in how they express themselves. It is getting harder and harder to find things within my price range that will surprise and bring joy. So I just look and if I find something I think they will like, I get it. Difference now is that I also try to find something that is useful. Why buy something to set on a shelf or throw in a drawer, never to use? I've done that way too much.
But back to my house. Yesterday my son-in-law got a start on MY wishes. He brought gardeners over to pull out bushes and cut out dead areas on a tree in our court area. It looks almost bare now, with the big bushes gone. I realize they were just decorative, but I didn't care for them. They had no fragrance, nothing but being there and being decorative. I want my roses back. I want to smell the fragrance in the air when life is hard. I want to sit out in the lawn chair and close my eyes and allow the flowers to cause me to relax and dream.
The roses won't be planted for a few weeks yet and for now my sanctuary looks bare. I enjoy going out in the middle of a busy day and even though the sun may be burning down, I will lay down on a lawn chair and allow the sun to penetrate until I get too warm. And now that the weather has cooled down, I love to just go out and sit and enjoy the quietness of the day. Except I have to keep an eye on Sheeba. Yeah, she usually goes with me. All I have to say is "Sheeba, do you want to go out front?" and off she runs to the front door. In the front, because of the fencing, she doesn't have to be leashed and is free to roam. But in doing so, she constantly hears "no, Sheeba! Get out of there!" as she tried to find a bug under a bush. Or tree.
I have shared with my son-in-law my dream of the sanctuary, how I would like to see it, and he has acted on it. Over the next couple of months things will begin to be planted and life will happen in my sanctuary. The gardeners told us they will stop by every month to make sure every thing stays trimmed and as it should be. I'm grateful for that. Yes, I'll have to pay them, but that's ok. I get to enjoy the works of their hands. I cannot trim trees or bushes. I can plant, yes, but then what? I would rather allow someone who knows what they are doing to take care of them for me.
So by spring, I am hoping my sanctuary will be complete.
But we have another sanctuary within us. One that houses our spirit. Sometimes we need to clean up that sanctuary as well. Did you know that our bodies are a sanctuary for God? What we put into our bodies either honors God, or not. I think sometimes we think too much of our bodies, and what we put in it and on it. But, what we do with our bodies is unto God.
I know that I have not always been faithful to keep this sanctuary as clean as I should. I allow anger or distrust or my opinions to distort it. I fill it with food that isn't good for it. Or I eat too much of the good food. I don't exercise it like I should. This body has served me well, and now every day I am reminded that it isn't as young as it used to be. This pandemic has been hard on everyone, including me. With being home I have eaten more - or less - than I should. I haven't gotten the walking in that I was doing before the pandemic. Yes, I'm walking Sheeba in the mornings but most mornings I only get a mile in - I walked more than a mile in the office when I was there!
There is a song.... hopefully I can remember all the words, "Lord, prepare me, to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I want to be a living sanctuary, for You." I'm sure I've gotten some of the words wrong, but when I sing it when I walk sometimes, I know God knows my heart and knows that is my heart's desire. I want my heart to be His sanctuary, that He will dwell within me, and live through me.
He has a tough job with me. I have a lot of stuff I need to let go of, inside as well as around this house. But my desire to be His, is greater than to be mine.
Where is your sanctuary at? Do you have a garden or a place you can just go and be alone with God? Do you still your heart and mind and let everything go and allow Him to speak to you? You don't have to have a specific location, you can sit in a chair and just allow God to love you. He does, you know. No matter where you are in life.
Clean out the closets of your sanctuary. Take some time today and 'Let Go, and Let God' meet you, right where you are. In your own little sanctuary.
Blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment