When I was a boy, I used to love to go to my mamaw’s house and get into her coffee cans. They didn’t have coffee in them (I didn’t drink coffee back in those days) they had cool stuff in them. One can had nuts and bolts, another had screws, another nails and another had little things she thought she might need to fix something with some day. She also had a mason jar full of buttons, every kind of button you could think of. No matter what broke around her house, she had a can or a jar with whatever she needed to fix it. I do the same thing now. I have coffee cans in my office with nails and screws, pens and pencils and other doo dads in them. I have the same thing at home. I cannot throw a coffee can away to save my life. When I die, I may not have much to leave my kids but they will have all the coffee cans they will ever need.

The problems in our economy in this country have made me do some thinking about mamaw and those coffee cans. She didn’t have a fancy doo dad organizer for her stuff but she had coffee cans that did just as well. She didn’t have the newest and best of things. She used what she had and she fixed what broke. She didn’t have credit cards loaded to the max because she didn’t have credit cards. If she couldn’t pay cash for it, she didn’t buy it. It didn’t matter what everyone else had, she didn’t have to have stuff to be happy. She was happy for other people when they got stuff but she was very content not to have it herself. When she did save enough to buy a new chair or couch or something, it was a celebration. It really meant something and she made a big deal of it with us grandkids. She was able to enjoy the little things like flowers in her flower garden, making quilts, putting puzzles together, catching bugs with us kids, and stuff like that.

Maybe some good things can come from the economic problems we are facing. It might help us get back to a simpler way of living. We may find that we can live with less stuff but more joy, love and contentment.

PS. What’s in your coffee can?

Do you like to put puzzles together? Fifty piece puzzles are about the most my patience can take. Some people can do puzzles with thousands of pieces and that amazes me. My mamaw was one of them. I can remember sitting with her and trying to help her work one of those things. I would not last long before frustration hit and then I would just watch her work her magic (not real magic you understand). It overwhelmed me to look at that pile of puzzle pieces, but not her. In a few day’s she could turn a 5000 piece puzzle into a beautiful picture. Though I never did one by myself, I had a hand in many. It may have only been a few pieces but she always made me feel as though she could not have done it without me. I really miss her! She taught me that the most important thing about putting a puzzle together was starting with a corner piece and then building the outside edges first. Once the outer frame is finished, you can start on the inside.

Life is somewhat like putting a puzzle together. At first glance, it can seem overwhelming. There are financial pieces, marriage pieces, parenting pieces, work pieces, church pieces, recreational pieces, aging parent pieces, where do I go to college pieces, what do I do for a living pieces, and a thousand more pieces of the puzzle of life that have to be considered.

Mamaw taught me that you have to get the foundation (the outer edge pieces) first and then the others will be easier. Start with the corner piece. Scripture says Jesus is the Corner Stone. As our personal relationship with Jesus is enhanced through reading the scriptures and obeying what He says, praying, giving and serving, we will find that all the other pieces will come together much easier.

When we try to put the puzzle of life together apart from Him, it is going to be a frustrating journey. If we surrender our life to Him, He puts the puzzle of our life together and He knows what it is supposed to look like when it is finished. We tend to try to put pieces together that don’t belong. He knows what pieces need to come together and when. He knows what the result is supposed to look like and what it takes to get there. The picture you have in mind looks like you but the picture He has in mind looks a lot like Jesus. When you surrender to Him, walk with Him and trust Him even when the pieces don’t look right at the time, He will put the puzzle of your life together and the result will be a beautiful picture that looks a lot like Jesus. Be patient, the Master is at work in and through you.

PS. If you are doing your life puzzle yourself you will force pieces together that do not belong. It will just slow down the process because He has to take apart what we forced together without him. Let Him do His work in you in His time and in His way. It is tough at first but when the puzzle begins to come together, and the image is coming clearer, and the image looks like Him, you will like what you see.

Do the seasons changing affect you? It seems like with each season change I have to recalibrate my system. I am not sure why. I suppose there is some scientific reason but I do not feel like trying to find out what it is because it’s fall. In a way, I like fall. The leaves are pretty and I like the cool air but mostly because of football. I do struggle a little this time of year because things are dieing. I like spring better. That’s when things are coming alive. I struggle most with winter when everything outside is dead. The good thing is that I have been through enough seasons in my life that I know they come and go year after year. If I did not have knowledge of the seasons, I would probably panic toward the end of fall. I might even think the world is dieing but I have experienced enough seasons to know that spring is coming back around again.

It is like that with our spiritual lives. We all go through seasons. We have times of great joy and times of sorrow. We have times when we feel so alive in Christ and times when we feel dead inside. We have times when praying is a drudgery, and times when it is intimate and precious. We have times when we feel close to God and times when He feels so far away. We have times when we know we love our Lord and times we wonder. We have times we feel weak and times we feel strong. We have times at church services when we feel great and times we just do not feel it.

I have learned in 26 years or so of walking with God that there are seasons there too. In my early days, I would panic when I was in a down season spiritually. I don’t panic anymore. I know that it may feel like fall or winter in my spiritual life right now but I also know spring and summer will come. I just have to stay focused and keep on keeping on.

If you are in a season where you are just not feeling it, hang in there. If you do, a season of life is just around the corner. Sometimes winters can seem long, like they will last forever but they won’t. Spring will come. In 46 years of life, I have not seen a year go by when it didn’t. The same goes with our spiritual lives. Don’t quit. Don’t walk away. Don’t give up. Spring is coming again!