"A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil." Matthew 12:35

The gospel writer Matthew recorded Jesus' poignant words which he spoke in response to the Pharisee's. Jesus was showing that ugly words (which the Pharisee's often spoke) reflect an ugly heart and lovely words (which Jesus always spoke) reveal a lovely heart. It is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

The word "storeroom" used in Matthew 12:35 in the Greek is "thesaurus," a term we commonly use to describe a storeroom (collection) of words. The same word is used of the Magi's chests, which contained gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11).

A thesaurus, storeroom, the Magi's chest, is a container. Your heart and mind is also a container. It's full of words - many of them you've said to yourself over the years. When we use words, either out loud or silently to ourselves, it reflects what is in our thesaurus... our hearts.

So, what's in your thesaurus?

If you could think of your heart and mind as a thesaurus, a book containing lots of words, what are some of the words that would fill the pages?

The words in our thesaurus should be able to measure up to Philippians 4:8. Are they true? Are they lovely? ... Oh my friend, I hope so. I hope your thesaurus isn't teeming with lies, self-slander or anger.

If your heart has been made new through Christ's gift of salvation, your thesaurus is supposed to be teeming with treasure. Think about your thesaurus. Are you overflowing with words of truth, kindness and hope? Or are the contents of your thesaurus needing some major editing? Don't be discouraged if you are disappointed with what's on the pages of your thesaurus. 1 Corinthians 15:10 says that you are who you are because of God's Grace. And Philippians 1:6 tells us He who began this good work in you will carry it to completion.

Just begin to monitor what you write on your heart with the words you say to yourself. Tune in to what you're dropping into your treasure chest. And ask God to be the author of each word and Master Editor in your thesaurus, removing words that don't belong and replacing them with truth. The point of the Magi's treasure chest was to have something of value to give to Jesus. As we speak truthful, praise-worthy words to our souls, we do so ultimately to place truth in our thesaurus' and have fitting treasure to offer to our King. He deserves our finest thoughts, our best words and a thesaurus full of Truth.

" My words declare the uprightness of my heart..."Job 33:3

Blessings and Joy,
Jennifer Rothschild
Author of Self Talk, Soul Talk: What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, and Founder of WomensMinistry.NET

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We can't think of a better way for ministry to start than in God's Word and you obviously agree. We also wondered what age groups are most involved in your Bible study ministry. From your responses, it looks like women between the ages of 30 and 60 are most engaged in Bible studies. Young women in their 20's seem to represent the smallest numbers.

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This idea was sent in by Bridget LaPointe of Cornerstone Community Church. It is similar to an idea we have shared in the past, but has some original twists.

We recently held a Swap & Shop and it was such a success, I wanted to pass this idea on to others.

The purpose of the event is to empty your closet of your gently used old clothes, shoes, handbags and jewelry and get some "new to you" things that someone else has gently used.

We decided to have this event on a Saturday morning. We set aside two hours for the ladies to "shop" in our small youth chapel. The ladies all turned in their unwanted clothing a couple days before and received tickets in exchange for their accepted items. Be sure to collect only clean, undamaged clothing, shoes, handbags and jewelry. You want to have a good selection available for the ladies to swap for. It is best to have your Swap & Shop drop-off day (or days) prior to the actual shop day because it takes a lot of time to check the clothing, hang and organize it all. We offered two days with both morning and evening drop off times to accommodate those who work outside the home. At the time of drop-off, we checked each item to be sure it was clean, not damaged or stained and in good condition.

We had several clothing racks for dress pants, dresses, blouses and jackets. We used round and rectangle tables for jeans, sweaters, t-shirts, purses, shoes and jewelry.

On "shop" day, the ladies returned with their tickets and were allowed to "buy" any one item with each ticket. So if they got a ticket for turning in a dress, they could use that ticket to "buy" pants or a jacket or a sweater--whatever they liked!

We had a changing room set up in the kitchen area. Luckily, our ladies weren't shy. But, we also had two private restrooms nearby where they could try on clothes. We also had several standing mirrors around the room. And one of our more creative volunteers made several display outfits with purses, shoes and jewelry and hung them on the walls, just like a real store.

Our ladies had such a good time. Nearly all asked when we would do it again. A couple of tips...

1. Ask the ladies to bring plenty of hangers (the type you get from the dry cleaners are good and you can recycle them when the event is over).

2. Borrow clothing racks from the ladies. You'd be surprised how many have them. We also borrowed racks from our church's school and production costume department.

We didn't put a limit to the number of items that could be turned in. But, it might be good to keep the number below 20 things per person. Believe me; it takes a long time to sort through four garbage bags full of clothes.

For this event, we limited the type of clothing to women's and junior sizes only. Depending upon your church size and the number of participants, you might want to also include children's clothing, too.

After the event ended, we donated all the leftover clothing to a charity in our area that gives clothes to those in need.

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