Tis’ the season for Christmas entertaining! It really is fun this time of year to celebrate with friends and family. And there isn’t much that I enjoy more than having people sit around my table enjoying each other’s company. However, I must admit that I may be a little off my game in the entertaining category this year. My last dinner party started with the fire alarm going off (just a slight oven fire) and ended with a sick dog! Not one of my finer moments, but my guests will tell you it was a party they won’t soon forget. If nothing else, it is nice to be memorable.
Most get-togethers require a little preparation – making a meal plan, extending invitations, tackling a grocery store run (which isn’t necessarily a fun activity this time of year!), and cleaning up the house. I remember when my kids were little and they would see me involved in extensive house cleaning, they would ask who was coming over. Guess that says a great deal about my cleaning habits (or lack there of).
I have found that, in the process of cleaning up, sometimes shortcuts are required. And as much as we would like to have all the laundry done and put away, every drawer and closet neatly organized, and every surface clean, when time is of the essence (and who has extra time around Christmas?!?), “hiding” the clutter can be the best way to go. An extra drawer, closet, the garage, actually any available space can be a wonderful hiding place to stash the clutter. Your home will look amazing, your guests will be so impressed, and you can “appear” to be the ultimate hostess. This is a time saving tip you won’t find in any Martha Stewart book!
Perhaps like me you have practiced the art of hiding your clutter. Not just the clutter in our homes but the clutter in our hearts. We learn early on that appearances matter, so we start to bury our feelings, our weaknesses, our sufferings, and our failures, to put on a good front, and “appear” to be as perfect as possible. We practice this in our workplaces, with our friends, with our families, and even at church.
What causes us to to be so image conscious? Perhaps our pride gets in the way (both with messy homes and cluttered hearts). And yet, this limits us in our relationships with others and how the Lord can use us for His glory.
By pretending to not have any clutter in our lives, we lose valuable opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others. Because we live in a fallen world, we all experience struggles, and each of us are uniquely situated in life and in our circumstances to reach others experiencing the same issues or situation. But this requires us to be genuine about who we are and our life experiences. People cannot relate to perfection, but they can relate to our real story. Besides, our story really isn’t about us, but what God has and continues to do through us. And that is a story worth sharing!
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Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians about God-honoring sincerity. He wrote about their ministry team’s suffering in Asia, humbly sharing that they were burdened beyond measure, above strength, to the point where they almost gave up on life. But by sharing about their sufferings and failings, Paul was then able to share who pulled them through.
“Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many”. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:9-11
By sharing with a sincere heart, Paul had a wonderful testimony to talk about trusting in the Lord and allowing Him to deliver them. This humility had also allowed Him to ask others to pray and he thanked them in these verses for their part in the deliverance. Paul had long ago let his pride take a back seat to the glory of God.
“Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.” ~ 2 Corinthians 1:12
We mustn’t let our pride dictate how we live our lives. Rather, we must live more transparently so that others can see the One who saves, the One who shows grace, the One who rescues and delivers, the One who is worthy of our trust. Instead of hiding the clutter of our lives, perhaps the Lord is calling us to share with a sincere and humble heart to a world in need.
My prayer is that we humble ourselves. That our pride does not get in the way of us giving glory to the Lord. And that we allow Christ to work through our weaknesses, our failures, and even our sufferings to draw us closer to Him. And that we remember that God can use our clutter to show others His amazing grace and love.
Merry Christmas!
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