This morning I leaned over in the parking lot of my workplace with little broom and dust pan in hand to clean up some broken glass. It was my glass, but I didn't break it. It was the remains of the rear window of my mini-van. The nearby brick, the timing of the incident (3-6 PM), the location (lots of middle school kids travel this way after school), and the fact that nothing was stolen gave me some clues as to how this happened. It was probably an 7th grader with an unrestrained curiosity who found a brick lying around . "I wonder what would happen if..." CRASH. And away he goes.
So, this morning as I was cleaning this mess up, I thought to myself, "why isn't the janitor doing this or the kid who violated my van doing this?" Then I answered myself, "because there is meaning in this work."
As I swept up the tiny shards of glass I had this feeling like I was doing this poor kid a favor. I was not angry (haven't priced out a new window yet), I was not bitter. In fact, I didn't even consider it the kid's responsibility. It's my glass afterall. Somehow, even though this kid will never know that it was I who cleaned up the mess he made, or even care if he did know, I was showing him love.
I want you to know that this is not my normal line of thinking.
I kept sweeping, carefully looking for little pieces of glass hiding under the orange pine needles. I relaized that this is one special little opportunity for me. I get to a little glimpse into what God does for me all the time. For the most part, I am a decent guy, but then again, I have this unrestrained curiosity that gets me to making messes. Many of these messes I will never know who cleaned them up, but I know it wasn't me. Many of these messes I never realize the cost to someone else.
I kept sweeping, doing my best clean up everything. I needed to clean up everything. It was important to know what it is like to clean up someone else's mess
9 comments:
really powerful post. really powerful. stirs me to discover meaning....thanks for sharing...
Good thoughts and good thinking.
Maybe instead of foot washings, we should have clean someone's mess days at church where we hand over our keys to our cars and houses to our brothers and sisters. Then we take turns cleaning each other's messes. Can't give advanced notice or else they might clean up ahead of time.
I'm relieved you said this was not your normal way of thinking....
What are "orange" pine needles?
**I do like the thoughts**
Don't believe in miracles? Try being me when your windows gets smashed out by a vandal and not getting mad about it.
Yes, it was not my normal way of thinking about things like this. Thanks God for a glimpse. Oh, if I can't bottle this and kep it. Please.
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Pine needles turn orange when they fall off pine trees and die. That's what they do in Jonesboro, anyway.
Good stuff Fajita. Isn't it awesome when God uses situations like this to teach us some important lesson about His nature? And even better - you took His lesson and shared it with all of blog-land so we can benefit from it too.
I'm glad I met you and get to keep up with you through your blog. Keep it coming Brother!
As I read this post it occurred to me that your job is very similar to sweeping up the broken pieces of glass.
You are trying to help to clean up the broken lives of your clients.
The same frustration must certainly come to your mind when talking to people about their brokenness because just like the young brick vandal those who are responsible for shattering the lives of your clients are often oblivious to the pain that they have inflicted upon others.
All you can do is to help sweep up the pieces of their lives as best as you can.
You deserve a thank-you for that.
LW
Great post!
Our Holy Spirit answers:
Yes, curiosity always causes a mess needing to be cleaned up. Curiosity is when you take your mind off Me and place your attention in the world, not trusting that I AM with you always teaching you everything you need to know right now if only you listen.
I'm relieved you said this was not your normal way of thinking....
What are "orange" pine needles?
**I do like the thoughts**
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