I went to grab the milk out of the fridge this morning and
noticed how nasty the milk shelf was. I grabbed a paper towel to wipe it out
and then saw how gross the fruit drawer had become. This progressed into a full
on assault of the grime and filth that had accumulated on all of the shelves
and drawers in my entire fridge. As I was cleaning, I wondered, “How did the
fridge get this bad? Why hadn’t I noticed?”
I realized that, for me, life had slowed down a bit,
therefore I had time to notice the
mess and time to clean it up. I then
started thinking about how this applies to life in general. We spend most of
our days rushing from one thing to the next. As mothers, we determine what must
happen and what can wait. But in the meantime, messes accumulate - messes that
must be dealt with. And not all of these messes can be taken care of with a
paper towel and 409.
In the busy-ness of life, other things can get messy too. We
become impatient with our kids, our attendance at church drops, we find excuses
not to exercise, our spouse gets neglected. And we are just too darn busy to
notice the mess we are making. Until something makes us stop and see, really
see.
We must take time to look for the messes and start cleaning
them up. It doesn’t have to happen all at once – some messes take some real
elbow grease, but if we see the grime and start scrubbing, that mess will start
to disappear.
The greatest news of all is that we have someone who wants
to help with the cleanup - someone who wants our lives to be sparkling clean. Christ
came into this world so that He could wash our messes away for good. However,
we are mess makers by nature, and we tend to find new ways to make messes every
day. But when we become aware of the mess we are making, we can ask for help
and then start the cleaning process.
Take some time today. Look for the messes. Then grab your
gear and get cleaning!
(Actually written in 2013 but reread yesterday as part of Camino Preparation)
No comments:
Post a Comment