Storehouses and Tupperware

As a bachelor, I've found myself partaking of local delicacies on a more regular basis than eating anything I may scrounge together at home.  My regulars, Subway, Lenny's, and Wendy's make for a quick meal that doesn't leave any left overs. Quick and clean. There have been a few times that I've brought food home to be stored in my refrigerator, usually from friends or church folk who want to make sure that this bachelor doesn't have to live on Subway bread alone.  One dish, in particular, came in a yellow tupperware bowl.  It was chicken chili, at one time.  I'm not sure how long this yellow container sat, unopened and unnoticed, in the fridge.  From the outside it looked like any other container, and just blended into the dozen other containers that surrounded it.  I'm not sure how long it sat in there.  It was a while, though, there was no doubt about that.

I don't remember what made me decide to do some house cleaning, but I do remember what I found in the yellow tupperware that used to be chicken chili.  Standing over the sink, with the left over containers from the fridge sitting on the counter to my right, I cautiously opened each one, promptly pouring its contents into the disposal.  The yellow tupperware, though, upon opening, gave off such a vile stench that I had to stop breathing long enough to scrape the slimy white clumps, lightly covered with soft green vegetation, out of the container into the disposal, turn the water pressure up, flip on the disposal blades, and get out of the kitchen.  It was bad.

Today I was reminded of that scene.  I've been focusing on Luke 6:45 for the past couple of days and decided to spend a longer period of time dissecting the verse this afternoon,

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

The contrast between something "stored up," that seemed secretive and the "mouth speaking," which, if anyone is in earshot, is very public, grabbed my attention.  Of course there are things in my life that I've thought were very hidden, secret sins that I struggle with that I assume are mine to know about, mine to deal with, and mine to do with what I like, totally in secret.

I wonder how people have experienced the "overflow of my heart"?  I have a good idea of what's piled up in my inner storehouse, good things, yes, but also bad things, things that I thought were secret.

Do people want to run from the room when I open my mouth, like I ran when I opened the tupperware?

I wonder how those secret sins, the "evil" in my heart, is experienced by those around me?  I wonder how the good things that I've painstakingly stored up are experienced by the same people?

It's motivating to think that what is secret, in my heart, is really pretty public.  More than that, the things that I store up in my heart are going to have an impact on the people around me, especially those closest to me.  Proverbs 10:21 says, "The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment."  I want to nourish!

The good things that fill up my inner storehouse:  scripture, good conversations with people I enjoy and who enjoy me, experiencing creation out doors, reading good books, and being still.

I've been trying hard to spend time in God's Word daily and be still with Him as well.  The other things, I'm aware of and will live out more and more.  When I open my mouth, I want to nourish, not give people a reason to run into the other room.  I want my life and my words to be a fragrant aroma to both God and those around me.

Papa, fill me, again, today, with Your Spirit and all the good things that I stand in need of to nourish others with the overflow of my heart.  I love you.