I'm Feeling a Little Tarnished

I have a box of genuine silverware that I inherited from my husband's Great Aunt Catherine that we use on special occasions. We don't take it out very often, because of the special care and cleaning that it needs.

I'm not too fond of polishing the tarnished spots. Life is just a little too busy to deal with it.

I'm glad that God doesn't feel that way about me - that He is just too busy to take me out and use me because of my tarnished spots. On the contrary, He seems to enjoy showing me off, not just for special occasions, but in ordinary, everyday life. And I'm thankful for that, although I don't like it when my tarnished spots show.

Last night my son, Zach, wanted help on a school paper - at 10:00 at night. I was not very helpful, in fact, I was pretty grumpy, a fact he will attest to. All I could think of was getting enough sleep so I could handle the details that faced me in the morning. I don't want to be like that, overwhelmed and grumpy by demands that exceed what are humanly possible. It's not always easy for me to keep priorities straight and when they get out of whack, I'm not exactly shining.

I like these thoughts from the book, The Woman Behind the Mask by Jan Coleman. When life gets overwhelming, she turns to the three D's:

Delegate - you can't do everything.

Do your best and drop the rest.

Downsize - dump the things that stand in your way of shining for God.

Hmm, I like this thought of shining for God, although I have my tarnished moments.

Isaiah 40:3 says, "Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God's bright glory will shine and everyone will see it."

Yep, I still have a few ruts to fill in and rocks to remove from my life, some tarnished spots that need God's polishing rag, so that I can shine for Him.

How about you? Are you shining?