Guilt Free Stash. A Note From Jan.
Home alone, at the moment Still life All others at work or school. Heather registered Basil for kindergarten. Time races.
Earlier today I went down the street to a favorite shop. Unusual fabrics … 50-80% off things I might actually need. Scarves … my favorite accessory.
After depositing my small stash on the counter (some were gifts), the clerk grinned and said, “You might want to hide this from your husband.” She didn’t know.
Interesting thought. Secrets. Tried to think of anything I’d hidden from Jud over the years that wasn’t a gift for him. Nothing specific came to mind other than my weight … though Jud never asked.
Can’t always bother strangers with details, especially painful ones that won’t matter once I’ve walked out the door. So I said nothing to the clerk, then gave her a Mona Lisa kinda smile … just to keep her wondering. That one’s worked for centuries.
Makes me wonder what Jud knows and sees. Even more, God.
Suddenly, that Sunday School song showed up with all 4 verses … the song I often felt my parents used against me… or for me, depending on one’s perspective. v.1 Oh, be careful little hands what you do. v.2 Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. (Way before television and the Internet) v.3 Oh, be careful little ears what you hear. v.4 Oh, be careful little feet where you go. Each verse concluded with … “For the Father up above, is looking down in love, so be careful little hands, eyes, ears or feet…what you do/see/hear or where you go.” Worked for my parents but kept the adventurous part of me subdued far longer than God ever intended.
Most of us run too scared of the wrong bogeyman. Read that some of today’s parents keep tabs using cameras or cell phones, while others employ some form of tracking device…not totally unlike ankle bracelets on freshly bailed suspects or released prisoners. Guilt, fear and the recurring soundtrack of a Sunday School song worked well enough on me. Preacher’s kid, eldest child, people pleaser that I was … and still am but to a lesser degree.
Secrets. Somewhere in the older part of the Bible it talks about secrets. Secrets with not secrets from. God sharing secrets with us wisdom like hidden treasure I need only sit still and listen to find.
God’s secret stash Guilt and tax free
4 Comments
I love the following prayer, which has the reality of God being with us, but not in the "Watch out! I gotta sense."
God be in my head,
and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes,
and in my looking;
God be in my mouth,
and in my speaking;
God be in my heart,
and in my thinking;
God be at my end,
and at my departing.
Amen.
Hi Jan, Thinking and praying for you often. So happy that you can live into your gift of writing. Your gift becomes our gift almost each day. Sharon and I read your posts like devotionals. So full of things that matter. Early this morning in my reading I happened onto these lines by Isaiah:
The Lord has given me
the tongue of one who has been instructed
to console the weary
with a timely word.
That's you and your gift of writing at this time. Thank God for your willingness to share deeply.
Good one! I relate : )
Jan, Thanks for posting the YouTube video link a couple days ago. Doreen and I watched it and gained painful insight into the final months for Jud, you, and the family. We're thinking and praying for you often. Mike & Doreen