You can't have it all ~ where would you put it?

"more will be given and he will have abundance"

Matthew 13:12

I did some spring-cleaning today.  I know, I know, but spring-cleaning can hardly be contained in just spring, don't you think?  My kids and I are frequently sorting through toys or books or clothes, weeding out what we no longer want or use (or fit in) and passing them on to friends or charities.   More than once I've been struck with the ironic thought of how glad I am to be rid of something that I was once so excited to have.  Especially things like furniture or appliances... because they're expensive, it's a planned-for, anticipated purchase, and a fun addition to the house.  But because they're big, they're hard to get rid of.  Charities can be selective about donations like that, and the trash collector can't necessarily help you even if the item has reached the end of its life.

Today, as part of our new school year, I was getting out new textbooks and putting them on our school shelves, and at the same time deciding what to do with the old.  Papers, school supplies, etc... keep?  toss?  give away?    And one of piles I found was sheets of stickers.  Several pages worth of stickers.  My Amazing Boy used to love stickers as one of the rewards for working hard in school.  I would put them on his worksheets, and on his pencil box, and he thought that was such a treat.  There was a time when I couldn't have enough stickers.  I bought some, but I also got stuff from friends whose kids had outgrown them, and I was so glad to have plenty to choose from, as well as having enough that I knew I wouldn't run out.

And now?  Amazing Boy has outgrown stickers, and I have dozens left over.  And the word that came into my head today was "abundance".   God promises us abundance, but I think maybe sometimes we overlook all the ways that He provides.  Because when you think abundance, you don't think stickers, right?  Anytime we have extras of something, anytime we find ourselves getting rid of something that's still useful, it's because we have an abundance.  Ever throw away food that went bad before you had a chance to eat it?  That's because you had an abundance.  Maybe not an abundance of that particular food, but enough that you could choose not to eat that.  Got clothes you never wear?   Kitchen gadgets you use only at Thanksgiving?  A backup of anything just in case your "good" one is not available?  Abundance.   Even a spare tire on your car!

Our choice would be an abundance of money, but that's pretty short-sighted.  He's much more creative than that, right?  So it's up to us to look around and see all that He has provided in abundance, and recognize it as a promise kept.

~ "Take heed and beware of covetousness, 

for one's life does not consist 

in the abundance of the things he possesses" ~

Luke 12:15