A Lesson ~ yes, from brown paper bags

"provide yourselves bags"

Luke 12:33

I'm doing it again.

I'm stockpiling grocery bags.

I am not a hoarder by nature.  Probably the only thing I have more than my share of is books.  I don't hang on to old newspapers or empty egg cartons or half-used batteries.  Storage space is at a bit of a premium in our home, so if I hang on to something, it's because I've made a deliberate decision to.

Although now that I think about it, if the Apple of my Eye had his way, we'd probably have fewer empty cardboard boxes in our garage.  But I hate when need to ship something, and there's nothing to ship it in.  And you never know what size you're going to need.  In addition, I need to store school papers and textbooks, and basically you just never know when you might need a box, right?  But even those I only keep if it's a size I think might be useful. 

So basically, if it's in my possession, it's been carefully chosen.

Now, with all that being said, I do have a couple of weaknesses when it comes to stockpiling.  (Stockpiling sounds better than hoarding, doesn't it?  It sounds like I'm prepared.) 

One of those weaknesses is grocery bags.  Brown paper bags.  Not the plastic ones; I hate those.  They are too wimpy, and they spill their contents in the back of the car on the way home from the store.  But the brown paper ones are awesome.  They hold more, and they hold it more successfully.  And we can use them more than once, and then we use them for trash.  The plastic bags won't work for that.

And yes, I also use reusable bags, too, but I can't use those for my trash, either. 

But not all grocery stores around here carry brown bags.  I guess the plastic bags are cheaper, so they figure if they're going to provide bags for free, they're gonna provide the cheap ones.   So when I am in a store that carries them, that's what I ask for.  And then after unloading my groceries, I fold up the bags and put them on a shelf in the garage.  And when that shelf has a good-sized stack of bags, then I use reusable for awhile until the supply of brown bags is dwindling.  Then I stop using the reusable bags until I replenish my supply.

Riveting story, isn't this?

But I've gotten a little paranoid over the past several months.  I think I'm afraid that my government, who won't let me use the light bulbs I want, and who has more of a say about my health care than I want, is going to ban the use of brown bags.  For my own good, of course.  Much like New York City tried to ban large sodas.

So when my shelf was full of brown bags, I opened up space on another shelf, and I started a new stack.

But I realized with a start the other day, that I have a whole lot of brown bags, and then I realized that the reason is that I'm paranoid.  I'm worried that at some point I will run out of brown bags, and have to figure out something else for my kitchen trash.

Now, does that sound like someone who is at peace?  Does that sound like someone who is trusting that God will provide ~ if not brown bags, then another solution?

"My son, God will provide"

Genesis 22:8

"And Abraham called the name of the place, 

The-Lord-Will-Provide"

Genesis 22:14

"And so it was, because they feared God, that He provided"

Exodus 1:21

"Rejoice... He will provide"

Deuteronomy 32:43

"Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, 

'May the good Lord provide'"

2 Chronicles 30:18

"You will provide"

Psalm 65:3

"You, O God, provided from Your goodness"

Psalm 68:10

"God shall supply all your need 

according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus"

Philippians 4:19

Any questions?

~