The Art of Using What We Have (7/23/2023)

Yesterday I stopped in at my middle daughter’s home to check on her and a renovation project that is underway. I have always marveled at her ability to take the most ordinary and unrelated objects and combine them for the most extraordinary results. As I was visiting, I noticed again her wall hanging in the living room. It’s a ladder hung sideways to form a shelving unit upon which she has placed odds and ends and which make me want to stop and take it in. Who knew just using what you had could be so powerful?

As I stood there taking it all in, it dawned on me (the LORD’s like that – my classroom is life) that we are all called to do what my daughter has done. No, I don’t mean hanging a ladder sideways on our living room walls (however, as you can see, it is powerful). No, I mean using what we have creatively and with purpose.

Have you ever noticed as I have how some people just seem to get so much done? How is that? They aren’t granted extra hours in the day. I’ve come to realize it isn’t what we are given so much as our willingness to use what we are given, what we do have, wisely and wholly.

Each of us is blessed by our LORD with specific qualities, gifts and talents as well as our time. The LORD provides. What will we make of these gifts? Will we insist on using them wisely and wholly? Or will we fritter them away or leave them unused and without purpose on the fringe of our lives?

As I look at my loving Savior and the example He gave me in His words but also in his life with his disciples, his sacrifice at Calvary, his resurrection and his time with the disciples before his ascension, I have to recognize how He used all at his disposal to minister to others, even when it seemed inadequate – who can forget the feeding of the multitude with five barley loaves and two fish.

What have we been given by our loving LORD which the LORD wishes us to use, which the LORD knows will be of value to others? Our time? Our talents? Our resources? This week as we journey on in faith, buoyed by hope, and fueled by love, let us spend some time thinking about what is possible if we engage all our gifts out of love for the LORD, love for our sisters and brothers, love for ourselves seeking to become the ones the LORD created us to be. The potential is there. Let us use what we have with purpose, with love.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.