Today is an Empty Box

Talk about a message falling from the sky! You might think that I posed this picture, or doctored it, but I didn't. It literally fell from the sky.

A couple of days ago the winds were howling across our county- gusts up to 45 mph. The dog and I took a short walk anyway. Quite a lot of trash was sailing around our property, empty topsoil bags from somewhere, and other assorted scraps. One of them was this box.

This message is pretty trite, but the delivery was so unique that I was forced to pay attention.

Yes, today IS an empty box. Each of us is given a brand new chance, every morning, to fill our box with... good things, positive things, helpful things... or negativity, degrading images, laziness, hurtful things. We DO get to choose what we will put in that box.

If we fill it with garbage, the box will hide it for a while, until the odors seep into the cardboard and the whole box begins to stink, our "secret" will be out. If we fill it with fresh flowers, the beautiful scent will accompany us on our daily rounds.

If we put things in the box that don't belong there- perhaps some slimy mud, before long the box will begin to sag and lose its structure... its health. If we fill it with the kinds of things a box was designed to hold, it will serve us for many days.

If we think that we can ignore the box and put nothing in it, we have even made a choice. Before long, spiders and cockroaches and moths will come and begin to degrade the box until it's no longer useful.

What will I put in my box today? How about you?

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Proverbs 23:7
for as [a person] thinks within himself, so he is