Use the Good Stuff!

This week marks one year since the Chiltons arrived in town - with the dog, guinea pigs, and houseplants filling the back of the car. Last year the annual rummage sale happened within a few days of our arrival. Although most of our boxes were as of yet unpacked, we did end up coming home with a great vintage table linen. It had no stains, despite its age. In fact, I suspect it had never been used. 

This weekend is rummage sale time once again - and once again the hall is full of donations. I love thrifting - it always feels good to me to give new life to something old or passed on. I especially love it when I can find something in really good shape for a good price!

This week I have been thinking about the life of that table cloth - and how it was treasured enough by someone to live for 50 years or more without a stain or tear - but then ended up in a church rummage sale to be sold for a few dollars. Thrift stores are full of such items - china, crystal, silver, etc., that was carefully cared for and preserved for decades, only to be sold for a pittance to someone else.

Friends - wouldn’t it have been good if the original owner had used the “good stuff”? But, so often the good stuff lies tucked away for “another time,” only to never be used at all. 

John 2:1-11 tells the story of Jesus performing a miracle at his mother’s insistence. He and his disciples as well as his mother and siblings were all at a wedding when the bar went dry. One wonders - were there party crashers? Did the hosts underestimate the amount the guests would drink? Did the wine delivery not show up in time? In any case, when Jesus tells his momma that it isn’t time yet for him to do this miracle, she just goes right ahead and arranges all the things for him to do it anyway! One wonders if this is Jesus’ first miracle (which is how John tells the story), since his mother was fully convinced that he could do it. Perhaps her knowledge is based on past experience. 

In any case, he changes the water to wine and averts the disaster of a ruined wedding collation. And since it was Jesus, the wine was, obviously, far better than that which the hosts had provided! One of the servants, after tasting the wine, declared, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk [because drunk people don’t care as much?]. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Essentially, he is saying, “you should have used the good stuff first!”

As you set about your day, I encourage you to consider where you are saving the good stuff until last - and running the risk that you will never get to enjoy it. “Well, when I retire I’ll start reading fun books.” “When I have just a bit more money, then I’ll be able to relax/tithe/travel/etc.” “When Christmas comes we can use the good china.” What if you read the fun book now, relaxed/tithed/traveled now, or used the good dishes now? Wouldn’t that make each moment a little bit more full of life and reflective of our creator who has blessed us lavishly?

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it!” (Psalm 24:1). Friends, the good things that we are saving are just entrusted to us by the Lord - we are only their steward. What if instead of squirreling them away for the “then,” we use them now to brighten our lives and the lives of those around us? That water that Jesus changed was shared with those around him. 

Use the good stuff, friends! And even better - use the good stuff to make life better for our fellow human beings.

Now, does anyone want to come eat cake with me on that table cloth?

Blessings,

Pastor Amy