Leftover nuts and bolts

Do you ever feel like a leftover? Ever think your useful life is over? Here's something to think about.

Will we have the right part?

"I need two small screws to fasten that shelf," noted my husband the other day. We're finishing up our remodel.

"I think I probably have those in my stash," I said, heading off to my tote bag of spare hardware and tools.

"Doubt it," he replied. "They're a special kind. We need a run to Home Depot tonight."

I rummaged around and pulled out three baggies of leftovers. Anytime we buy appliances, gadgets, and tools with extra hardware bits - or take things apart, I've collected the spare nails, screws, nuts, bolts, and hooks. Over the years, my collection has filled three little snack-size Baggies.

A real assortment of odd bits

Sure enough: he found enough of the right-sized, right-kind hardware to get the job done.

So, do you think you're no longer the "right person" when someone needs help or a job needs doing? Maybe you're feeling overlooked. Stowed away. Out of sight.

But rest assured: God knows where you are. If you're willing, He'll connect you to the right place at the right time ... and you'll be the perfect match for a person or situation.

Like our little stash of hardware, your opportunity may be just around the corner! Don't give up yet.

Read more:

The bags are ugly and parts stick out.
But inside, oh inside... how useful!

*O send out your light and your truth; let them bring me to your dwelling. Psalm 43:3 ESV

*Christ says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." John 8:12 ESV

*[Pray for All People] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, 
godly and dignified in every way. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV

*I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 NLT

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity: An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God. But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God—that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him.

You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying—the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on—the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bed- room where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. The man is being caught up into the higher kinds of life—what I called Zoe or spiritual life: he is being pulled into God, by God, while still remaining himself.

Moravian Prayer: Bringer of light, the darkness in our hearts and minds can make it hard to see the life-giving light of your love. Brighten our days with your truth and bring us out of that darkness forever. Amen.

How's your hearing?

Can you hear like you used to?

I noticed my first hearing shift after nailing in 1000 square feet of 8" pine flooring, three nails across, every 2 feet. In the process of building our own house, I never thought to put in hearing protection. At the next piano concert, the difference was startling. I had lost an entire middle range of hearing. It was like wearing earplug in that sound bite.

Gradually, it's become harder to distinguish sounds. It's not so much that I can't hear, but that sounds have begun to run together. We notice this in people with hearing aids, to whom every noise is part of a whole. When we are young, it is easy to zone in and out between sounds.

Are some of us are losing our spiritual hearing as well? Were you on high alert as a spiritual baby? Was I trusting as a child, knowing that God had you in his hands? A fervent believer as a teen? A ready listener as a young adult or parent?

Has our hearing changed as life buffets us? Has the gap between your expectations and the reality of daily routines turned your ears to other voices? Have my disappointments hardened my eardrums so that God needs to poke me with a big stick as well as talk to me?

If so, in this week after Easter, let's turn our hearts and our spiritual hearing up! Let's consider the wonder of God's accomplishments at the cross and during resurrection. No other god is living and active on behalf of His people. No other god has DONE for us rather than constantly demanding that followers DO more and more. Our God fulfilled His justice by sacrificing Himself for us; we don't have to keep flagellating ourselves, obeying harder and higher rules to placate Him! How amazing is that!!!

From Real Simple Daily Thought

God looks at us through the sacrifice of Christ and is ecstatic at our relationship. He loves us without limit. Picks us up when we fall down. Dusts us off and encourages us to turn always, to listen always, to obey always ... for our good and an abundant life. No, this God is not like other gods!

God leaves the choice to you and me. Will we turn up our spiritual hearing aids by spending time in scripture, prayer, and the Community of faith?

Or will we pursue our comfortable, selfish agenda, never finding harmony, fulfillment, and peace?

Listen to that small still voice. What are you hearing today?

Read more:
*His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Psalm 91:4 NLT

*The angels said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” Luke 24:5 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Hallelujah! The impossible has happened: the tomb is empty; Christ lives among and within us! May we see signs of resurrection in everything around us today. May we celebrate hope and new life: Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Amen!