As Silver Polished

One of the books that changed how I view God and my life is As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur. In this book Kay explains how the uncomfortable things in life happen for a reason; they are part of a refining process God puts us through. The idea is that God heats up our lives to burn off the droth (the unsightly things about us) so that pure silver results and when God looks into that silver He sees his face reflected back at Him. The process makes us more like God and people see his love, hope, and grace when they see us.

The flurry of activity in my life these days is putting the heat on a bit. Trying to make a good decision that will so radically change my current pace of life, dealing with the terrible 6 yo stage of disrespect my son is in, supporting friends who are going through some seriously rough stuff, finishing up my grad class, worrying about my parents who are stuck in Europe (thanks to the volcano), dealing with hubby's work schedule . . . the heat is ON! So, where does my help come from?

I was contemplating all of this as I was polishing my silver tea pot and it suddenly hit me: I am that tea pot! Though I am not going through a crisis (thank you Lord!) I am a bit stressed. I don't feel like there is a burning fire under me burning off droth, but I do feel like I'm being rubbed vigorously like I do when I am taking the tarnish off my tea pot.

This particular pot had a year's worth of tarnish and I really had to work hard to get it to shine so I could see my face. It dawned on me that if I would just polish it up once a month it wouldn't be so hard when I take it out for these occasions. Then wham, God hit me with a spiritual truth: the same is true for my relationship with God. If I only sit quietly with Him and His word once in a while the "polishing" is that much harder. If I allow Him to "polish" me on a regular basis then it is not as hard for Him to see His face reflected back at Himself.

That's when my argument with God started.

Me: Well, I spend regular time with you God, I have a Bible study I have to prepare each week. We spend time together then.

God: I want time with you for me, not for you with the point of teaching others.

Me: But I am a busy mom, I only have time for one Bible study.

God: I want whatever you can give me.

Me: I already pray as I go about my day.

God: I want to teach you from My word.

We went back and forth like this for a while, as I was making my way through half a jar of silver polish and mumbling about how much polish this was taking, when that still small voice inside said, "If you just used a little polish every day it wouldn't take as much. Just spend a little time in My word each day." No, I don't think the polish fumes were getting to me. I really believe God taught me that day that I just need to spend time every day in His word for our relationship. He doesn't need me to spend an hour each day in His word studying the Greek and Hebrew meanings behind translations. He just wants me to take it in bite sized pieces and apply it to my life.

Since my little talk with God I've been trying to take Priscilla Shirer's advice a just take time to study two or three verses a day. I'm tackling 1 Timothy this way: paraphrase the verses, pull out the spiritual message, apply to my life, and OBEY. It feels like it's taking me forever BUT I am learning loads, especially about that last part, obedience. God wants me to be fully His and I am learning to be just that. It's amazing what a conversation over polishing a tea pot can brew up!