Water Your Worth

For this month, December, my boy and I have been reading the sermon on the mount in the book of Matthew every night. Every night I read to us at least a couple of chapters in the Bible as we settle in to bed and he falls asleep. Recently, my son has been repeating parts of the verses after I say them and we have little discussions along with it, it is so neat. I so appreciate how when I find myself making a commitment to a reading for a specific amount of time (i.e., a month, six weeks, etc.) there is so much more that gets not just retained and understood but also just the varying degrees of connection that take place. The sermon on the mount is such a profound and pivotal speech, message and connection to everyone from Jesus (if you are not familiar with it I suggest you take a look at it). What is awesome is how we can all be convicted at different times of our life and find relatability in just these few chapters. Each paragraph is for each of us and all of us.

I found myself really appreciating (and still focusing on) the aspect of not worrying and honestly it is so true! Our current location is much colder than the previous areas and I didn’t know what I could do because we travel as light as possible but also needed things in order for us to participate in life outside. I was recommended a resale shop in town called kid to kid, and when I looked in to it they actually took hand me downs and applied them as credit to the store. So, I grabbed some of my boys shorts that he will outgrow soon and took them in and we found some great knit cotton hats for each of us… and they were brand new! (and surprisingly perfect to our personality as well) Then I went and checked out a spot for a food pantry that I found online because this current job was not able to pay as much as I usually get and the travel took quite a bit out of the pocket. I get to this location called Abundant Life Ministries and they tell me that they are not a food pantry and that the site is incorrect. I say okay and that I will look at the other options for the next day. Eddie, the founder of the ministry, insists that I come in and that they help me with making calls to get us taken care of. After a little talking Eddie comes out with another staff member, Faith, and they tell me that they just held a Christmas drive and had some gift cards available and gave me a gift card for a grocery store (which we are still somehow living off of). As we were about to leave with tears just gently rolling down my face, we all prayed and gave thanks and the tears then started to accumulate on my glasses lenses as I felt the perfection of God’s hand in it all and with us. Faith then says to me, “Do you have jackets? It is going to be cold next week.” I told them what we have and that we live pretty light and how grateful I was to get the new hats. She tells me to come back the next day and got our sizes and then they gifted us another card for gas in the car that we are using while here (which filled up the entire tank when it got on empty just a couple days later). So, we go grocery shopping and being sensitive to a lot of things and it just being a lot for us, I was thinking on the way back to the house that I would send them a message and thank them and that they have done enough for us and that there was no need to look into the jackets, to focus on others and that we would not be back the next day. But! Just as I finished that thought the Holy Spirit tells me, Just go… So, I say okay. The next day we get there and waited a little when Faith comes in with a bag and our jackets. I am always all over the place in my mind while also managing my very active child and our surroundings, so it did not fully register until we got back to the house that she went and bought us brand new jackets! The tears start rolling again as I sent her a text with an apology that I did not realize while we were there that she actually went shopping shopping for us and feeling just an overwhelm of love from our Father as there is an inner feeling and connection with the message that we have nothing to worry about and our Father loves us greatly and will make sure we are taken care of. And this is just one of the many miracles that we have experienced through our different way of living, but the most recent and relatable one for that part of the sermon message.

Then there was the light of the world and salt of the earth which is actually way more profound than most realize on the surface. The do not judge for you will be judged too… something I think everyone is honestly doing this recycle of finger pointing with too much pride to just step out of the circle. Everything has its perfect placement for each of us and really just needs to be felt and known to be.

The one that has been nagging at me to write, is that you will know them by their fruits. Fruits. Most people would agree that a fruit comes from a tree and when talked about a person’s fruit would refer to their children maybe. What I am realizing in observation and talks with others, is that there is a lack of awareness or maybe it is just a loss or disconnect to the phrase, fruits of your labor. So what exactly are fruits and why is it so important to notice and discern others by their fruits? The paragraph starts by saying that it is important to be able to know when a wolf is around and talking falsely and continues on to explaining that bad trees cannot bear good fruit… This world is full of falsehoods, manipulations and corruption and those that thrive in that kind of environment are ones to keep an eye on – to watch and see. I am sure we have each had something done to us that felt we were wronged in some form through our lives – had our kindness taken advantage of, had our words used against us in a hurtful way, had our space violated… these things are dark and come from hurt and create more hurt. These actions, feelings, involvements, thoughts… all fruits. Everything that we produce (aka, fruit) comes from either goodness and light or lacking and darkness. The interactions we have, the company we keep, our work ethic, the work we choose, our morals, integrity, words, honesty and values are just some examples of how many “fruits” that we can create and present. If you are doing a job and no one is around and you know that sentiment, ‘oh, it’s good enough.’ comes to mind… do you skimp a little on the job knowing that no one will notice or do you brush off the thought and take the extra mile? When you see trash on the ground, do you get irritated at the presumed “lousy people” that did it, ignore it or see it as something that you can help out with and gladly pick it up and put in the nearby trash? Then there is the view from the, ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ sentiment. Not all blemishes on fruit mean the fruit has gone bad, shoot I picked some perfectly looking fruit in Costa Rica before and on the inside it was totally rotten and filled with worms. This can be true for us humans too! How we show up, hold ourselves and want to be seen, seen as or seen by, says a lot about the type of fruit we might be. And then on the flip of this sometimes those “bad seeds” you could say, are the best “fertilizer” for our lives – sometimes it takes a really dark experience in order to fuel the light. Regardless, “you will know them by their fruits.”

So as I finalize all of this, I want to ask us to think about these things: are you throwing fruity pebbles around or are you a good tree with lasting fruit? (No judgement just encouraging more awareness, observation and inner contemplation.) Let me know or share with someone that might want to talk further on these things with you. Either way, remember you are more valuable than you will ever fully know, more loved than you can comprehend and there is still time for you to meet the one that saves and forgives everything. Let me know if I can help or pray with you, thank you for your time.