It’s late at night. Trash pick-up is in the morning. I think to myself, “My hubby can take it out in the morning.” The morning comes, hubby rushes out the door. The trashcans haven’t moved. No big deal, they’re not full anyway. There’s room for more until the next pick-up.
A few days pass and more trash builds. The lids are barely fitting the cans and the stench is awful. Hubby leaves town. The day passes, the night gets busy. I stay up late to get everything done. “What was it that I needed to do?” I can’t remember. I’m tired. Really tired. So much so, I wake up later then usual. When I wake I remember what I couldn’t. I needed to set out the trash. Its too late, the truck is gone. The neighbors bins are emptied. Once again, mine have not moved. They sit filled to the brim with 4 day old trash that already stinks and has flies and I know I have 4 more days until that truck is coming back. Nasty situation and one I found myself in this past week.
It could be worse. I think back to other times in my life when I neglected to take out the trash, times I when missed church or neglected to go to the altar repeatidly when I knew I needed to be there. I had become keenly aware of the trash that was in my heart and I knew where I needed to go to get it taken away. I needed to give it to Jesus Christ, the spiritual trash collector. The longer I waited the angrier and more bitter I was becoming, sin was breeding in my heart.
What is the lesson I continue to learn? As soon as you think to take out the trash, do it. Don’t wait thinking you will do it later, that it is not so bad. Trash is trash at any amount and the longer it sits the worse it gets. So, mark it on your calendar if need be. You don’t want to miss trash pick-up day, trust me. I thank God for the men who pick up the trash at our home and for Jesus Christ who picks up the trash that matters most. We take it to His curb, His altar, and thank God for the price He paid to take the stinky mess far away.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! – John 1:29
