40 Days

I've heard a lot recently about different 40-day things. One gentleman took 40 days to focus on recommitting to his marriage. Another person spent 40 days focusing on their prayer life. God brought to mind the 40 days of rain during the flood and the following renewal.

My life has been really crazy lately, going a lot of places and doing a lot of things. All worthy causes that I enjoyed helping out, mind you. But they took me away from home. Away from things that I need to be doing. I moved into my condo 11 months ago and I still have items that do not have a home other than the cardboard box they moved in. A whole dining room full of cardboard boxes. Yes, most of them came from a storage unit (otherwise known in the last two rentals as the garage) and haven't been touched in ages. But once in a while there is something that I need that I know is in one of those boxes and I have to go digging through them. My birth certificate is something that still hasn't surfaced.

What honor am I bringing to God by putting myself out there and serving Him by helping others when I'm drowning myself? Not much. I long to be able to open my home and invite others in. To repay the hospitality served up by so many in my life. But I can't be Christlike and offer them a glass of water in my own kitchen because of it's condition.

So, I am taking my 40 days. I will not feel guilty for saying no, I can't help with that. I will establish routines. I will attempt to arrive at work at the same time every day. I will put routines into place so that when I do begin to help others again my home doesn't suffer. And I will make at least a small dent in the mountains of boxes I am living among so that maybe I can have a Christmas party at my house this year!