Office Supplies + Rising of the Sun to Its Setting

“From the rising of the sun to its setting, let the name of the Lord be praised” – Psalm 113:3

Drank my pumpkin spice flavored black coffee that Seth made for me this morning. Feeling quite satisfied with what I had accomplished in my stay-cation. I deep cleaned the three bathrooms, laundry, paint a bathroom, gut and organize the pantry, completely clean the refrigerator, deal with the stock pile of recycling, trip to the dump, stock up on cleaning supplies, begin fall storage systems, learn and begin scrapbooking our wedding album, finished a book, began journaling again, scheduled a hair cut, tried new recipes, balanced checkbook toward a more efficient savings schedule, IKEA trip for new furniture and new serving wear.

Every day is like a package. I open it in the morning, the moment I wake up. Then at night, I close up all of its experiences – both the good and the bad – put them away, and prepare to open a new one again at sunrise. That’s how the Bible teaches us to look at life. We ask only for our “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), not worry about tomorrow “because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own” (Matthew 6:34).

One of the implications of this approach is to keep your sins confessed on a daily basis. I like to call them areas of improvements or learning stones (rather than stepping stones). Also, to not let any offense done against you go unprayed for and forgiven. For those common situations then a person who has harmed you doesn’t see the harm in their actions or down plays it with a “I am sorry for that bad thing I did” or “I sorry you are so angry at me.” Pray for the person who has harmed you that they will see their learning stone, ask forgiveness, and experience the awesome process of what forGIVEness is about. This also means praying that your heart is ready to forgive when you are sincerely called upon. I believe that when people live otherwise they will wake up years later to find their hearts cluttered with a piled-up resentment. I am a great office supply lover; my heart flutters at new pens, post-its, file-folder systems, red staplers a la Office Space, etc. The freedom and friendship they want in their relationships, marriage, career, are obscured by tall stacks of wrongs, collected and cataloged by date and time.

If I want to keep bitterness and rancor out of my relationships, I ought to take a moment tonight – and every night – to square away with the most important person in my life first, Seth. And then square away in my heart all the other file folders.