UN-STUFFIN' THE STUFFING

{Keep Your Nose Hair's Clean}

I was greatly looking forward to Christmas this year. For many years we have given our Christmas's and family gatherings away to better facilitate the needs of others with younger children and I had missed having these special times in our own home. This year was particularly special to me, for it was the first time we were having 12 family members come and sup at our table.

My son and his new bride came ahead of time and helped me set up the beautiful table of elegance. This was the first time we had used all our table inserts and spread a feast for that many. Since we only had a place setting of 8 of our gold china, we intermixed their crystal clear candlewick china and combined the two into one beautiful table, along with our gold and crystal goblets and gold-ware. It was a stunning and sparkling table and a symbol of bringing our family together into one.

I had just enough time after gifts with our smaller intimate family, to get the last minute preparations done before the turkey came out of the oven. Somehow everyone found a seat, we served each person, we prayed and the food was still hot. Yea, it turned out perfect! So I was enjoying the comments and conversations around the table and noticed the stuffing in the turkey was a highlight.

It was of particular interest to me when I served my little niece the stuffing. She strongly covered her plate saying she did NOT want the stuffing, she did not like stuffing. "Have you ever tasted Aunt Sandy's stuffing?" "Well nooooooooo…" "OK, I will put just a tiny bite on your plate and if you don't like it after you try it, then that is fine. But don't say you don't like something unless you try it!" So I plopped about 1 tablespoon of stuffing on her plate. When the topic at the table came back to stuffing, I glanced over at her plate. It was mysteriously gone. "Aurea, would you like more stuffing?" "Yes please."

After dinner we all went into the living room and sat around and actually had one conversation and it lasted for about 2 hours. This is the first time in history that I can remember when our family has met together under one roof and where we each shared and listened to one another, instead of all talking at once with about a zillion different subjects going on at the same time. It was so enjoyable for us all be in unity and harmony! It really was a special Christmas to be able to enjoy one another like this.

So the next day we are sitting at the lunch table and eating leftovers:

"I got this cool nose machine that washes and drains clogged sinuses."

"This cornbread stuffing is too sweet, you changed the recipe this year! I'm really disappointed."

"Evidently as people grow older, the hairs in their nose grow stiff and rigid and stop moving. So sinuses get clogged and we can't taste our food as well."

{I remember Aurea's 10 year old stiff and rigid mind-set about stuffing she had never tasted. I get a sudden download of revelation connecting the nose with the gift of discernment and our ability to enjoy God's food.}

"Yes the stuffing is really strong this year, but it did not make me sick, and …"

{…the emotions of my stress over the meal preparation surfaces, and so my stuffing pops out…}

"Well fine, you all have a right not to like the stuffing, that is your privilege! I am going to tell the world!"

{Sudden silence around the table. Sandy's long suffering turkey button just popped.}

"…but I was actually going to say that the stuffing is strong this year, but I really LIKE it!"

{Sandy is now eating humble pie.}

"…oh, sorry, but I am still going to tell the world…"

They ramble on about turkey stuffing recipes and I get lost in my sermon that the nose is a parable of the gift of discernment which is the ability to smell the difference between good and bad and separate mixture so that we may receive and enjoy His Word. When we get too set in our ways, our discernment to really smell and taste His Word gets warped and out of whack.

I was thinking of the burnout from all the years I cooked for my family and trying to please everyone's food choices. Then I saw the spiritual parable of how God gives beautiful feasts for His people, and they make all these comments about what they liked and what they did not like. And it is all based on whether their nose hairs are stiff and rigid! So the moral of the story is that God makes us all like snowflakes with our own unique taste buds....but we need to keep our nose hairs clean. (smile!)

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CONCLUSION

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{Words to Ponder are summaries of His quickened Words of prophetic revelation, punched with the word of wisdom and written under inspiration.}

WORD TO PONDER: TO REPAIR YOUR STUFFING

Dear hearts, you are such precious children. How I love you and how I long to please each of you and grant you the desires of your hearts! Give Me ample room in your hearts to move you to taste new experiences and see if you might stretch yourself to enjoy them. Once you taste the delicacies of My generous feasts, you might find you want more!

You are in a new season when I am bringing more definition and harmony into your lives, by joining you into families who nurture and care for one another. In experiencing the intimacy of uniting into closeness, things that were buried and stuffed in your past will come to the surface. There may be times when you feel like a teddy bear with holes and your stuffing has popped out from years of loving wear and tear and hugs. Let Me fix you and repair you and mend all those broken places.

Be patient with yourselves in the process and let the love and intimacy of a safe place nurture you back to health. Yield to Me all your old places of burn out and give me access to wash all your stuffed places with My cleansing flow. Stay flexible with My feeding you, and accept one another in My love. You are each precious to Me and I created you with differences. Enjoy your differences even as you enjoy your common denominators and the love in your heart will expand to embrace many.

Eph 4:1-6 NLT

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.