newstalk

Riches and Glory.

Yesterday was Labor Day, and the afternoon full of friends and food and games. So full, in fact, that I didn’t get to some other errands until quite a bit later than I expected. The good news: I found some excellent Labor Day clearance sales on things I’d been needing for some time, but hadn’t yet for which had the assets or justification to pay full price. (Ten dollars for only two pairs of boxers? You must be out of your mind! I worked nearly 52 minutes for that money!)

I had my eyes on a cheap wood laminate bookshelf (on sale through Saturday for only $9.99!), but decided to wait until I could take some measurements back at home. As I’ve slowly unpacked all my stuff in the new apartment, I’ve found myself, as usual, in the situation of too much stuff and too little space. The problem is mainly books and computer-related equipment, which are very hard to arrange efficiently when you only have horizontal space to work with. This is, of course, why people invented shelving, then turned around and started charging dearly for the invention.

By the time I left the strip mall, it was past sunset and quite dark. Driving home, I took a new route which cut a wide swathe through the suburban neighborhoods that comprise Glen Ellyn. Here, I discovered that the next morning was garbage day, and that Glen Ellyn homes produce a prodigious amount of garbage in one week. Seeing all the garbage reminded me of my days on garbage duty at the house on Frankln Street, and the wide assortment of wonderful things that people mysteriously label “garbage”.

Not more than a moment after this thought, my headlights reflected off a beautiful white nightstand sitting on the other side of the road. I turned around for another pass, and the second look confirmed my initial impression. I circled around the block, parked off the main street, and walked down the sidewalk to investigate. Indeed, there in the light of passing cars stood an intact little white nightstand with a shelf and a drawer, absolutely flawless to the immediate perception. I picked it up, balanced it on one shoulder, took it back to my car, and loaded it in the back seat.

After lugging the thing up to my third floor apartment, I started taking a closer look at it. It had obviously occupied the room of a little girl, for the drawer had an edgework of little flowers painted impressionistically in glitter pen, and the handle had been shellacked in mother-of-pearl glitter paint. There were a few minor scratches, the shellac had a chip in it, and the handle was loose, but could be tightened.

Upon opening the drawer, I discovered the reason for the previous owner’s condemnation of this little jewel: the back of the drawer, made of a cheap particle board, sagged down below the frame of the drawer. A few minutes with a hammer and two nails fixed that, and I had myself a perfect computer stand and possibly an adjunct bookshelf.

Afterward, I thought about all the furniture I’ve picked up off the side of the road, or obtained in some other non-monetary transaction. The “executive” desk that I’m sitting at right now came out of a dumpster at the BankOne offices near the old house. The couches in our living room came from the Wheaton FreeCycle mailing list–nice, solid oak couches with minor wear that were just taking up space in someone’s garage. My current bookshelf, inadequate though it is, came from down the street from the old house. It’s a custom-paint job, brown primer with hand-prints in green and white, a memory-piece that someone had forgotten about and discarded.

Half the furniture in my apartment has some sort of story behind it, but perhaps the real miracle is that the apartment has any furniture in it at all. At this stage in my life, I don’t earn a lot of money, and so I’ve had to make choices about priorities in my spending. Furniture certainly doesn’t make the cut, unless it’s a $9.99 special at Target, and even then, it requires thought and cost-benefit analysis.

Yet here I am, typing away in front of a beautiful desk with all the space I could ever need, with my computer now happy in its new home on top of a glittery nightstand there in the corner. Although furniture isn’t quite the same thing as clothing, I’m reminded of Christ’s words in Matthew 6:

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” — Matthew 6:28-30

At church, our pastor has been speaking about the names and attributes of God. One of those, of course, is Jehovah-jireh, or, “The Lord Will Provide”. There is a worship song that goes, “Jehoveh-jireh, my provider, his grace is sufficient for me. [...] My God shall provide all my needs, according to his riches and glory.” I’ve had this song running through my head on any number of occasions throughout this past year, as I’ve struggled with all my fears and worries about my wants and my needs.

And now, at the end of one year and the beginning of another, there are two ways to see my situation: first, I could see myself sitting here in my apartment, surrounded by the refuse of others, living in want and misery because I am poor and underemployed. That could be true, but this also could be true: that I am rich, a prince in the world, surrounded by the riches and glory of my Father, who is a great king who goes away on long journeys but always showers his sons and daughters with generous gifts and sees that my every need is taken care of, every hurt healed, every sorrow comforted. In his stead he has left me as a steward of a part of his kingdom, and he has surrounded me with trustworthy friends and wise counselors. He calls me often, and I occasionally call him, and when I do, he always listens.

Faith is how you see the world, and you must choose to put faith in something. The question always is, is that thing that you put faith into worth the expenditure? Is the vision worthy of the life? Well, I leave it as an exercise to you, my reader, to decide which of those visions I prefer, and which one I choose to put faith into. That’s it for the Tuesday update. See you Friday.

Possibly related:

Share this: