Post #221
26 March 2020
Gifts of the Spirit
A Place of Inspiration & Christian faith.
Where are You?
Are You Where you Need to be?
What is on your list for today?
I like to begin organizing and cleaning my home in March each year.
I feel good when I finish the work and sit back to enjoy the fresh atmosphere in my home. I learned this as a child, helping my grandmother , Ida Matilda, and my mother, Esther, as they cleaned their homes in preparation for the warm days ahead.
Back then, in the 1950s, we took out all the rugs and beat them with a “rug-beater” while they hung on a clothesline. We beat out all the dirt from wintertime that accumulates in the fibers. Of course, we did not have electric sweepers at that time – so this was essential.
Next, we took down all the curtains and washed each panel individually. While the ruffled curtains were still wet, we stretched them out onto curtain-stretchers. It was a wooden frame with little sharp nails all around the edges. This task took a lot of time, and you could get your fingers pricked if you were not careful. But, when the delicate organdy curtains were put back upon each of the newly-washed windows, the room looks exquisite.
My mother and my grandmother took such great pride in their homes and keeping them clean and pleasant in all seasons. I do, as well. My home is my castle and the place where I find peace and solace. I love my nearly century-old home in The Village of Wurtemburg. My house has roots so deep into my ancestry, and so do I.
I grew up with a deep appreciation for my ancestors and this little spot of “heaven-on-earth” the Village of Wurtemburg in rural western Pennsylvania.
I’ve enjoyed a life of travels to magnificent places in this world, yet, coming home to Pennsylvania was always delightful. I had a feeling that my home always welcomed me upon my return. I never took it for granted. This place is my paradise on earth.
This week, I started organizing a tall hutch in my 1920s kitchen – This tall cupboard holds a collection of ruby red glasses on the topmost shelf. Beneath that shelf, I have two more shelves where I store canned goods, and I am working on organizing them today.
Because I have deficient vision, I am assisted by my willing helper, The Merlin CCTV, which magnifies each of my cans so I can know what is in it. Once I know, then I make a 3 x 5-inch recipe card for each box.
On that card, I use a BIG MAMMA marker – the biggest you can find – and I put down a few letters that indicate what is in that can. When I finish the lettering, I put a rubber band around that card to hold it onto the can.
Each item can be carefully organized in my cupboard for me to be able to know what is there. Things take time for me. The little things that I used to do very quickly can now take days. Or more. I am grateful I have always been a patient person with the ability to stay focused on any task at hand. God prepared me in advance for this road I am walking on today. God always prepares us for the next step – even when we are entirely unaware of it. You can ask him, “What am I prepared for?” The answer comes. It arrives as a still small voice – a breath, the Holy Spirit that indwells us.
Like Queen Esther, in the Bible, we are placed where God needs us to be at the right time.
Esther 4: 14.
Esther 4:14 New International Version (NIV)
14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
My mother’s name is Esther, and I remember the meaning of her name.
Esther could be translated as “star” in Persian. The Book of Esther in the Old Testament tells the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish wife of the king of Persia. This was not her desire, but she was put in this position by God and through Esther, the nation was saved.
If you have committed your life to Jesus, our Messiah, then you don’t need to worry about your next step – as it was for Queen Esther, your arrival will be on time. Trust in God to guide your days, and you will be precisely where you need to be at the right time.
Right now, I need to be in my kitchen organizing my cupboard and in my office writing some more Haiku today. Bob has the dogs out for a walk, and when they return, we will be working in the kitchen today. One little thing at a time is all it takes to make your life and your home a more excellent place to be as we shelter-in-place and wait out the pestilence that is moving across this country and the entire world.
Don’t live in fear. Know that God has everything in control no matter how it appears. I recommend that you not watch much on TV because the majority of the reporting is based on fear. Be filled with faith, instead. Do something that makes you feel good inside.
What will that be?
Where are you?
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Courtesy of Lynda McKinney Lambert.
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