Day Fifty Eight - The Man Drawer

Ecclesiastes 3:6 - a time to search and a time to give up!

In our house we have a Man Drawer. It’s in the kitchen and the man drawer is the most amazing place, it contains all sorts of stuff. Anything you are looking for and can’t find in the house, try the man drawer, it’ll be there somewhere amongst its varied contents. There are screwdrivers for small repair jobs. Old keys from broken locks … but I’ll keep them for a while yet… just in case. If you need string or Sellotape, it is in the drawer. Not nylon string you understand but proper butcher’s string. If you ever need a tester for Christmas tree light bulbs, there is one of those as well.

At the back of the drawer are a couple of old mobile phones - one which doesn’t work but could be used as spares for the other. Both are long out of date but are wrapped up in a piece of kitchen roll in case they get damaged. Always handy to keep in case the modern iPhone I use fails. Did I mention my ref’s whistle? It is a proper whistle and was useful when we did the Boys Brigade, but it ended up in the drawer for I was convinced it wasn’t working properly. When I blew it hard, I couldn’t hear it for the sound frequency is different. The question is, should I keep all this stuff? Or maybe take my wife’s advice and get rid of it all?

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 emphasises that there is a time to "let go":

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: . . . A time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away."

Some things are worthy of treasuring for the rest of our lives, while other things belong in the skip!

The Byrd’s had a song about all this called Turn, Turn, Turn. In Solomon’s effort to understand the “true meaning to life,” he sees that good times and bad times come to all, and this repeats itself in each generation. Life doesn’t stand still; change is imminent and we have certainly seen change this year both in life and in church. Some have gone with change, whilst others have left kicking and screaming, demanding their rights. Time to have a think about things and take some action of being accepting of change by throwing out the stuff that hinder us from moving forward.

Hebrews 10: 35 says: Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

How tempting it can be, to rely on our own abilities and resources, in preference to trusting the Lord and depending upon His provision. We are encouraged not to lean on our own, human understanding and trust in our own provision, nor are we to depend on others to the exclusion of our heavenly Father.

To everything there is a season!

Enjoy your day.

Tom Bonnar