What IS this for? Junk drawer edition.

Do you have a junk drawer?

I, apparently, have a home full of them. I'm not sure it how it happened, but, in every room of our home there is at least one drawer this is full of stuff and nonsense that makes me absolutely bonkers. {sigh} I don't pride myself on being the most tidiest of home makers...but c'mon! For reals?! EVERY room?

Intro kitchen "utensils" drawer.

When we moved into this home 2 years ago I was thrilled about this deep spaced drawer right by the dishwasher. Oh the visions I had of keeping a tidy drawer for all of my odd n' end pieces. Things that were necessary and needed, but didn't have a "proper" place to land. I pictured myself whistling while I worked, diligently emptying the dishwasher and placing utensils in this drawer. Perfect. And for a while I did! Then... well, you know. Life gets real. Time gets short. Other things become 100x's more important then a silly organized drawer.

Today as I cast an annoyed glance at this hot mess - something caught my attention. And this is how the Lord often teaches me. Random personality - Random lessons. Everything in this drawer has a purpose. Everything in the drawer is important at some time. And, this hot mess will remain a hot mess unless the chaos is put in order. For example...

Mom's old metal/copper cookie press. You know... makes those amazingly addicting little spritz cookies. All I seem to have is the barrel portion of this tool. The press... who knows? The little shaped discs...nada. The turny-wheel thing that pushes the dough into the shaped discs... gone-sy! Thank you for your grace as I clearly know NONE of the actual parts names. :)




Next we have Mr. I-Have-No-Clue-What-This-Is.

Honestly. This came to me in a hand me down box when I first got married...and I've never used it and I haven't a clue what it even is. But it's cool and antique-y, so I kept it year after year... filling space.

So, what am I talking about? Here's where I try to put heart to paper, er, keyboard.

Though these things seem to useless and weird and out of place to me, they do possess a purpose. A purpose that really...only they can acheive. Sure I can make some spritz cookies using a plastic ziplock bag with a hole in the tip of it. But, they look awful and its not as much fun. And as for the item above...well, I'm positive it was made for a very specific reason to do a very specific job. Same with us. We are each created with purpose in mind. We were made specifically by a creative creator, God. When I try to be or do something that just isn't who I am... it's a mess.

These items also reminded me of the Church {that Christ loves, by the way...}. Each person plays a role, each part fits together to make the whole "machine" work. It can't be all cookie presses or thing-a-ma-whats-its. Out of order we are a mess. Like my drawer...kind of.

I keep having conversations with people who feel lost or alone or left out. I battle with that from time to time, too. We all do. It's human. Every time I go on FB I see a status about wondering what to do with life, where to go, why are we here?! We struggle to see our purpose. We are blinded by the worlds lies - the Deceiver prowls around sniffing for opportunities. We try so hard to be a "spoon" and then wonder why we just can't cut it - when we are actually "knives". {pun} And maybe this doesn't even make sense to anyone but my brain. I just praise the Lord for this...

"He who began a GOOD WORK in you will be faithful to complete it." Philipians 1:6

and

"In the same way, even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other." Rom. 12:5

"For example, the body is one unit and yet has many parts. As all the parts form one body, so it is with Christ." 1 Cor. 12:12

"You are Christ’s body and each of you is an individual part of it." 1 Cor. 12:27

What looks like a drawer of mess and chaos to us {earth, church (gasp at the thought), family, etc} - God has completely under His control. He has a plan. You are in it. I'm in it. For the record, my junk drawer is a mess because I haven't taken care of it... our perfect God perfectly takes care of us. No comparison... really.