Have you ever heard, "what goes around, comes around," or "use it or lose it", "Karma", "you get what you deserve"?
I see Metaphors in everything! Well, yesterday I had one of those days where I thought "Heavenly Father is trying to punish me" , (which he actually never really does), I look at this as a "withdrawl of blessings."
As some of you know we started "remodeling" a year ago. It started out with Faux paint and then ballooned into more, then more, then more. We still haven't finished and I still have tons of stuff in boxes so it was easier to move things around for the painters, carpet installers, the granite guys etc.
Now comes the stink of the story. Jim took me to Hawaii for my 50th birthday last December and said, "heh, while we are gone let's have our bedroom done so we don't have to be inconveinienced while they paint, rip out the wood baseboards and windows, new knotty alder doors, the whole room would be done while we were on vacation! (while I'm in Hawaii crying that i'm so old ).
I franticly move everything into plastic buckets, emptied everything, moved all my clothes, shoes, emptied dressers so they could move them easier, EVERYTHING was moved out of my room.
Jim's daughter Lelauna got married in the Washington D.C. Temple almost 2 years ago. I don't think I have been back. Well maybe once, maybe twice? Lately, Jim and I have been trying to go to the Temple more these days (did i say twice or try)? I could not find my Temple clothes and so rented them. I kept thinking, where could they be? Well, I decided to look in my storage unit down the street, and YES, there they were, in a rubbermaid bucket with other random stuff I was frantically throwing in so I could get to Hawaii.
While IN the storage unit, I smelled this HORRIBLE Dead animal smell and thought maybe a mouse had snuck in and died in the unit. I quickly looked around, and couldn't see anything, so I ran home to wash my Temple clothes (we were doing sealings later that evening). I get home, and the STINK had followed me home. I stood there stunned, "oh my gosh, its my Temple bag! Have you every smelled a dead animal with maggots on it? Thats what my leather Temple bag and my special Temple clothes and packet that my dear sister had bought me in 1987! A most beautiful dress that has special meaning and sad memories too. I was devastated. I washed the clothes and the smell did not come out. I ran to the storage unit to see what the smell came from, thinking all my things would smell this bad if I didn't take care of it. Well, I never found a rat. It was a Ziploc bag that I had put in the same Rubbermaid bucket, that I had placed sea shells from Seal Beach, and among the shells was this egg I had found on the beach, unhatched! Well it had rotted and exploded, still in the bag, but the smell had penetrated the entire storage unit, and was laying next to my Special Temple Bag with my Special Temple Clothes!
I think the lesson for me is this, I should NEVER have put my Temple clothes "in Storage", I should NEVER have put my Temple attendance "in Storage", I got too busy with my life, (my life in a blender), to do the things that had meant the most in my life just 9 years ago! I used to go to the Temple every Tuesday! It's what kept me going after my divorce. It lead me to Jim, who saved my life, brought love back in my life, brought me closer to my Heavenly Father, brought Faith, Hope and lead to so many more blessings in my life. So, the lesson is this
Use it, or Lose it!
