I can remember when my sons were teenagers and they played sports. After a long day of practice, they would come home and head straight for the refrigerator. While standing there with the refrigerator’s door open, one of them would yell out “what’s in here to eat?” For some reason they would automatically go blind to the food that was sitting there on the shelves of the refrigerator. There would be all sorts of things such as cold cuts, snacks, pizza, chicken, and an array of other delicious meal items. They would make it a point to ask the same question multiple times, as if I had trouble hearing. Finally, I got to a point where my response would be, “food…you cook it you eat it.” All it took was them moving the food from the refrigerator to a pan and doing the work of turning it into a meal.
I figured out quickly that my sons were waiting on me to make the meal for them. In their minds it was easy for mom to move the food from the refrigerator and turn it into a meal. After all, she’s good at moving and doing, so they thought. As I was recently studying the story of the widow woman and the prophet Elisha in the Bible (2 Kings 4:1-7), I thought about how the man of God challenged the woman to move and do. In the story the woman shared with the prophet how her husband had recently died and left her and their two sons in a lot of debt. She did not have the money to pay the debt, so the creditors were going to take her sons as part of the debt payment. Elisha first asked her, “what can I do for you?” Secondly, he asked, “what do you have in your house?” The widow responded with “nothing except a cruel of oil.” I believe at that moment she was hoping he would just speak a word and the money would magically appear, like my sons hoping the meal would appear. However, he instructed her to go borrow some vessels and fill them with the oil. After which she was to sell them. When the vessels ran out the oil would stop flowing. The woman was challenged with moving and doing. Both she and her sons had to get on the move with finding the empty vessels. Moreover, they had to execute by ensuring the vessels were filled with oil.
Now if I remember correctly, the woman said she had nothing in the house except…Well her nothing turned into a whole lot of something. It was enough that when she sold it, she paid off her debt and still had money for she and her sons to live off. How many times have you thought I have nothing but…Or sometimes it’s I don’t have anything. The reality is we all have something. It may not seem like it at the time we’re facing a problem or crisis. However, there is something in your house ready to be used.
I’m not speaking of your home, or dwelling place, but I’m speaking of you the vessel. What’s inside you that you are allowing to lie dormant and not be utilized. Now is the perfect time to start moving and doing. Now is the time to write the book. Now is the time to start the business. Now is the time to go back to school. Now is the time to go after a better job. No more excuses. Everything we need to be successful has already been placed within us. It’s up to us to pull it out. So, I ask you again, “What’s in your house?” You won’t know until you go looking.