trash

This is officially the time of year I go completely bonkers!  There are so many good things going on.  From awards days to field days, everything in May is fun.  The issues is that there are so many end of the year celebrations going on at one time that I get loopy.  However, I still live by my “One day at a time” motto.  I refuse to plan too far in advance.  It overwhelms me. I simply do what needs to be done until bedtime rolls around.  I sleep and then start over again the next day.  I also intentionally pause to take it all in and make myself remember how blessed I really am. 

In the middle of the hustle and bustle, I have made some random observations.

First of all, to save time this morning, I did not have the boys take the trash off or even set it on the back of our old Dodge.  I just plopped it right outside of the door.  I thought it was too early in the morning for my dogs to mess with it.  I thought wrong!  I switched out my third load of laundry and buzzed outside to look for something in my car to discover my dogs were in canine heaven digging in my trash full of weekend leftovers.  I fussed at them and picked up the mess thinking…that trash was just too close for them to resist.  Let me repeat that…the trash was just too close for them to resist. 

Oh, how I wish I could say that only dogs fall when tempted.  Sadly, we all do!  We can get ourselves so close to the trash, the trouble, or the temptation that we cannot resist!  My Dallas Pastor, Brother Mark, said a number of times from the pulpit “If you are on a diet, do not go into a donut store.”  The divine aroma of donuts is just too much for a calorie counter to usually resist.  Likewise, we all have things in life that will lure us in if we get too close to them.  Rick Warren says “Don’t just walk away.  Run.  You don’t fight it, you flee it.”

Another thought of mine this morning made me laugh out loud at myself.  My house is a wreck! I mean a wreck.  I was gone most of the weekend.  My hubby worked outside and got our food ready for the week like he always does, but my house has been neglected for a few weeks now. 

It needs a deep cleaning after a serious tidy up job.  I looked around the kitchen earlier and wondered where I should start.  The dishes seemed like a logical place to begin.  Instead of diving into them with Dawn and hot water, I picked up the phone to call my husband because something captured my attention that was HIS. HIS baggie of old beef jerky that we saved for fish food was annoying me. I needed to know what he wanted me to do with it.  It was in my way. (HA-HA)

He did not answer, and I am glad.  Why on earth I was worried about the beef jerky when I had so much to do?  I chose to focus on one thing that was not “mine” when I desperately needed to concentrate on the numerous tasks that were “mine.”  (a real knee slapper if you think about it)

Luke 6:42 in the Message Bible says “Do you have the nerve to say ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt?  Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”

I will save my cute conclusion for next time.  Just read that verse again and get real this week with yourself and Jesus!