I like going to garage sales. Now that my kids are older, sometimes I go alone. On this particular Saturday, I had gone to a few sales and had no luck. I was on my way home and thought I would stop at just one more.
When I parked the car I could tell that this sale was different. First, it was inside, and from my experience that usually happens when someone passes away and the family is selling the house too. As I got out of the car and started walking up the driveway, I started to feel God's presence, you know when the air gets warm and your heart starts beating quickly. I felt like I was seeing this through His eyes. I felt it even more when I walked in and was fighting back tears.
The house was obviously being cleaned out because the husband (father) had died. His wife was talking about it in the kitchen, how she was going to move now so she wouldn't be alone. The adult daughters were marking things and checking out items. I looked around and saw normal things - signs of his life - work pants on a hangar, a gold watch with a crack on the face and worn edges, a vacation bag that said Destin, Florida.
I thought of this man, I never met him, but I could see from what was left behind a little of what his life was like. Out of his shoes, you could tell which ones he wore the most, and I'm guessing he liked this kind of cologne. I saw the dishes he ate supper on, and the video camera he probably used on that Destin vacation.
But inside I wanted to know - was he more than the gold watch and Destin vacations? Did his life change someone else's life? Were these things that were being sold for a few cents all that's left? How many of our thoughts and actions revolve around the things that will fade away when we're gone from this earth? In my mind I could see myself standing before Jesus with a box of my life, and dumping it out at his feet. He would sift through the "junk" and worthless things of my life to find the things that hopefully he could say "Well done" about.
Please God remind me of this every day. I don't want to spend the time that I have been given on things that will fade away when I have gone from this life. I want to leave a story that points to Jesus with every memory.
1 Cor. 3:13
Each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.
