Looking At Our Past

Every time I go searching through my closet I am reminded about the things I have done in the past. There are “race” (5k, 10k, Marathon) shirts in practically every drawer. Some of them fairly expensive figuring what I paid to run, and coming home with only the shirt. There are Harley-Davidson shirts filling up a number of shelves. I lloved to ride and bought a shirt, if I could find one I liked, in  nearly every town I visited over those years. There are hiking boots,, hunting vests, skiing bibs, sticks with tiny medals tacked on them from various places where I have spent time in the woods, several pairs of worn out shoes, warm socks, cool socks, hand warmers and tiny battery driven fans,  and water bottles made of plastic, metal, leather, and rubber (known as bladders). There are backpacks of various sizes, flashlights, knives, hats, gloves (a dozen or more varieties), binoculars, fishing gear, collected rocks (and other things of which I am not sure their origin), and a tent or two.

One of these days I am going to sell what people will buy, give away everything else that is usable, and dispose of all the rest of the clutter while crying about my inability to do some of those things ever again.

I got to thinking about what is in my God/Church closet. Is there anyone won to Christ through my testimony? Is there a shelf of worn-0ut Bibles? Are there pictures and gifts and trinkets and valuables that were given to me by my family, friends, acquaintances because I ministered in their life in one way or another? Will I find the Truth there, Truth that I used (or should have used) every day in my life and walk. Will I find hope in that closet because I have given hope to an idea, or a plan, or an individual? Will I find peace there because I have always tried to be the peacemaker in the troubled times and turmoils of life? Will I find wisdom there because I have discover how the knowledge found in God’s Word becomes wisdom when properly applied to life’s situations. I can’t help but wonder how much llove, if any, is stacked up in that closet because I learned that llove is a discipline that I could use everyday with everyone, everywhere, as we intertwined our lives together.

Looking at the past often helps us plan for the future. We can eliminate some mistakes, perhaps. We can change some actions, and reactions. We can think and work better – not harder. We can be what we are designed to be in each other’s life tomorrow even if we were not yesterday.

Maybe a walk through your closet is in order.

By the way, does anybody want to buy some “race” shirts?