Are you worn out with the “junk” of life? Have you found yourself going and going, taking care of everybody else and not having enough time to take care of yourself? Does it seem that every time you turn around there is another demand being made on you? Sometimes it seems that we all find ourselves in this place. There are no easy answers. I can suggest a simple (but not, I hope, simplistic) answer.If none of us is immune to the “junk” of life, then we all need to develop some skills in “junk management.” If we find ourselves wearing out as we give our time and face the demands of others then we can use some  suggestions for making things a little easier on ourselves. I have always been fascinated by the ability that some people have to look at a bunch of old junk and to turn it into sculpture or into something useful. If you have seen the wonderful nativity scenes that our Nesei Crafters have been making, you can see how attractive they are– and they were made out of scraps of wood that were too small for many other uses. There are all sorts of other examples all around us. God takes us, even when we have wandered away from him and done all sorts of things that hurt him, forgives us, and makes us over into new people. This is “junk management” at its best.

Now, I’m not saying that we can do what God does with our lives. What I’m saying is that we can take the problems that we face and the demands and concerns that we have and begin to look at them for the possibilities that are there. We can use what God gives us and what the world tosses our way in ways that show God’s presence hidden in them. The Cross looked like a defeat, but God turned it into a victory by raising Jesus from the dead. Whatever we face can be seen as an opportunity to trust God and to grow as God’s children. Read James 5, beginning at verse 15. When we open our hearts to God in prayer and begin asking God to help us look creatively at the junk of our lives and the demands placed on us, something happens– and God is faithful!

Gene Feagin, Pastor