Storing Up

The checker usually assumes I'm stockpiling for some impending disaster. That's not totally off-base. Have you ever tried to fit an aisle's worth of groceries into a tenth-of-an-aisle-sized kitchen? Disaster.

Last disaster time, my ten-year-old helped.  "Mom, I can't make the new groceries fit into the refrigerator with all this other stuff in here."

"OK, Allie, how about taking out the yucky stuff and making some room?"

She gave me a look of fear and doom. "You want me to clean out the refrigerator??"

She sheepishly pulled out the first container as if she were handling a vial of nuclear waste. Her eyebrows were somewhere around her hairline. "Mom, there's something in here." She looked frightened, then disgusted, then...sort of amazed. "I have no idea what this is."

"Just some left-overs." Then I peered into the container and studied it myself. I had no idea what it was either. Do you know how unnerving it can be to find left-overs growing in the fridge yet have no clue what they're left over from?

"Could this have been chicken?" Allie asked. "I think I see a beak."

We shuddered and tossed it. Then we tossed a brown, slimy bag that must have been lettuce in another life, some spaghetti that seemed to have made its own meatballs, and a little surprise butter dish that contained something that was definitely not butter. Before long the old junk was out and the fridge was filled with fresh new groceries.

The entire episode made me think about how the Lord so often wants to supply something new. But we tend to hang on to the fleshly old stuff. Jealousy, for instance, can be as putrid as month-old chicken. Left as it is, it will mold and ferment just like that container of "whatever" that Allie and I threw away. Then it squeezes out the peace that's ready and waiting "in the bag." Isn't it sad to imagine the Father saying, "Oops, no place for this peace in here - too full of rottenness." Proverbs 14:30 says, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." Are you picturing a petrified chicken bone with me?

Jealousy and envy start cultivating when we stop celebrating the successes of others. It's a rejoicing opportunity left to mold into selfishness.

Instead, make room for peace. Make room for Jesus. He brings with his peace the whole list of fruit from Galatians 5:22, including love, joy, goodness and more. This fruit doesn't need preservatives never shrivels, never rots, never grows its own meatballs.

As we make room for Jesus, we begin to automatically chuck jealousy, envy and the like. It's a wonderful surprise to find that even after stuffing his list of virtues into our lives, amazingly, there's still plenty of room for goodness left over!

Sorry, did I say, "left-over?" Don't worry. That has nothing to do with chicken.

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Contributed by Rhonda Rhearrhea@juno.comRhonda Rhea writes for dozens of great Christian publications and speaks at conferences and events across the country. You can find her new book, Amusing Grace, at your local Christian bookstore. Rhonda's husband, Richie Rhea, is a pastor in Troy, Missouri. You can reach them through her website atwww.rhondarhea.net