Inventory

     Taking inventory of our lives and actions, what a daunting task. When I think of it I am both terrified, and joyful. Because like most of you, my life is full of failures, some of them whoppers to be honest. But also some really wonderful times sprinkled throughout a life of learning what it means to be human. When I was younger, I worked part-time in the summer and winter breaks as an inventory specialist for a local tractor company. Actually, I started out hoeing weeds and picking up litter, and as they ran out of things to assign to me, I was put to use performing the least favorite task of just about everyone that worked there. No, it wasn't being the bathroom janitor for a bunch of burly mechanics that spent their lunches at the near by flea market enjoying the local taco truck cuisine. I was put to work in the parts warehouse, opening every drawer, looking on every shelf, counting how many nuts, bolts, and washers that the company had on hand. The regular parts staff usually hated this job. But for me, it was money for girls, cars, and all those other things a high school boy needs or wants, so I was open to pretty much whatever it took to get paid. One thing that I learned from that experience was to be thorough. Count twice, check and recheck, never assume.
     When I think of taking inventory of my life actions and attitudes in that same thorough way, I start to run for the proverbial door to escape my own condemnation. If we look back on our own failures and emotional tragedies with the power of the 'truth', we will find that we are all evil by nature. In fact the Bible points out that we have all lived lives that have fallen short of God's plan for us. (*) That we are all sinners in need of a miracle to fore go the just reward earned through the deeds of our nefarious nature. Certainly we should look back. Not to judge ourselves as evil, but to learn and improve from our mistakes. Forgiveness from stupidity and ignorance, should not be viewed as a license for repetition. Looking back, taking inventory of our lives, must include the sight correction that grace affords us. Don't use that opportunity to pronounce yourself unworthy, or worthless, use the knowledge of the past to inspire your future. See the good in your life, not just the bad. In all of us is the ability to feel overwhelmed by life's speed and relentless tug to do more, be more, accomplish more. That idea is a trap.

     I spoke of life lessons, higher learning and success often with my Dad. He was a kind soul, with a flair for wisdom through experience. One day we were talking about a man that I knew from work, he was going to school at night and online to finish his masters degree. The man had spent countless nights apart from his children, become somewhat estranged from his wife. He had lost part of the fire to pursue happiness without the reward of money, or power. I'm sure you're beginning to see the picture. My Dad finally asked me, "how much do you think is enough"? He was asking me to think about the man's situation; was the fact of having the degree, going to school, worth the losses he was experiencing in his marriage, his home, and family? As God would have it happen, a day or two later, that same man asked me into his office to discuss a business matter. When the subject of his hard word and struggle with school and the decision of whether or not to continue with it came up, I just listened. I didn't go into his office intending to say anything about what my Dad had said to me. After a minute of talking he paused, and I finally asked him what my Dad had asked me, "how much is enough"? We discussed the raise that it would afford him and his family. We talked about the respect of his peers as he would then be as "successful" as they were. I just kept asking him the same question, but in different ways. Will this degree make you closer to your wife? Will this promotion help your relationship with your children. We spent a few minutes taking inventory of the causes and effects of his choices. Later, he eventually decided to postpone his masters efforts until his children were older and he had more time. And happily, his marriage, children, and his promotion all worked out for the best. That day did make me think about my own choices though, and take a hard look at why I was pursuing some of them.

     When you look back and inventory your own life, what will it consist of? Where will your priorities and gifts be accountable? I am not saying that higher learning and gaining a degree or promotion isn't Godly or the right thing for you to do. What I am saying is, why are you doing it. Is it a positive in your life? In the life of your spouse or family? Or is it weighing you down, changing your priorities to less than righteous plans? It doesn't have to be job or school related. Putting your priorities anywhere that takes away from your responsibilities to your spouse, family, or faith is the way that your inventory gets altered. You see, we all have inventory. Choices and events in your life, both good and bad, create inventory. We control what kind of stockpile that is built up as a result of our lives and efforts. Do you suppose that when we stand before God, in the life after this one, and He asks us, "what have you done for My kingdom?" that you or I would likely answer; I abandoned my kids and wife in order to complete my degree, so that I could gain respect or get a raise. Do you think that we will answer, I didn't spend time at home, because I was serving and volunteering at my church, they needed me after all. Again, I'm not trying to say that being successful, or having a great higher education, or serving in your church or community is a bad thing; please hear that. But the inventory that is really important, the account that God seeks from you and I the most, is our inventory of people. How many lives did you affect for good? Did you love your kids and teach them the honor and respect of having a great earthly father? Did you stand by your commitment to love their mother through sickness and health? That is the inventory that someday, you will be asked to recount. Did we feed the hungry, cloth the poor. And try this one, did you share the grace of the Gospel with someone that really desperately needed to hear it? Money, fame, education and power, those things alone don't make a good inventory. Most of the time though, they don't ruin it either. We do that all on our own. When we rely on our status to make us happy or worthy, we've set ourselves on a path towards disappointment in God's eyes.

     When you look back at your life, whether you live to be 20 or 100 years old, what will you see? Will you see the emptiness of success without God's calling upon your life, or will you see the balance of serving His purpose and loving others into His kingdom. The storehouse that I want to see in my life's history is full of family and friends, but less familiar faces as well. People that I ministered too without knowing it or them necessarily, by living a ragamuffin Christian life. A life that isn't perfect, but is seeking to do anything that I can, to share the grace that I have been given. It may be that your time has come to adjust your inventory. That's what we used to do when the number of actual items found in the stock room didn't match what the list said we should have. If you have been looking into your own personal storehouse of life and are not liking what you see, adjust your inventory. Take the proactive approach to change your priorities, to seek God's plan in your life, to make your marriage and your family the valued asset that it's intended to be. Seek out the Master's list for your inventory, and in the end, the result on that day He calls you to recount your life's priorities, you will find it full of loved ones that know God's grace, family members that love and respect you, and a lot of surprising strangers that, through your life of virtue and goodness, are better off for having known you.

(*) Romans 3:2