Renewing Day by Day
It’s Friday and time for some Faithfully Fun!
One thing about moving, it gives you a chance to go through EVERYTHING you own and consider: is it useful in my life, does it have purpose, do I need to keep it, can I use it in another way. Whew, and does it ever remind you how much stuff you really have. This is the 5th time we have moved since our marriage in 1999 (and I hope the last for a LONG time) and each time the amount of stuff we have had to pack up and take with us has grown considerably. Now the addition of three kids has certainly added quite a bit of “stuff” to that list, but not just in toys.
After the kids were born I have started keeping and cherishing things that others would look at as trash, or unneeded. I kept every handmade card, drawings done during church,and art projects. Not to mention the stacks and stacks of cards from birthdays, to Mothers Day and our anniversary. Thoughts from others that are so sweet, but you just don’t know what to do with after the fact.
In the process of unpacking in our new home and trying to find a place for everything and everything to be in its place, I have been trying to find a better way than just to stick them in a box under the bed. At the same time, thanks to couponing and great back to school deals the past couple of years, I have amassed quite the stock pile of office/school supplies. What to do, what to do? While putting things away today a thought hit me, I used some little book rings and put all the cards into their own little “books” that can be looked through and enjoyed. And already my daughter has enjoyed looking at all her cards and asking “who is it from?”
In the same theme, trying to get creative with storage I have decided to “renew” some boxes left over from buying first day of school shoes. Yes, I packed and moved empty boxes to our new house, I know, we can all say it together “Pack Rat.” But, this time they came in handy! Thanks to a little purchase of a product I have used for years, contact paper, you know that pretty paper with the sticky side we use inside of kitchen cabinets to help them stay clean, I now have some renewed boxes great for storing all that glue and extra pencils. And they look a whole lot better on the shelf.
It is so great to be able to reuse and renew something. To find something old and bring new life to it, give it new function. Isn’t it great to know that even as our bodies wear out, as our troubles bear down on us, God doesn’t toss us out, but instead renews us daily as we live for Him.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16
Wish you and yours a blessed weekend. May you find things in your own life to renew and strengthen!
Tiffany
