Not only do we take our trash can to the curb on a weekly basis, we clean our lives of trash, the internal kind, the kind inflicted on us by the words and deeds of the world.
Trash comes in the form of food scraps, cardboard boxes, so many other things and let’s not forget those wonderful plastic bags we get at the grocery store. I have a friend who saves those plastic bags, she has a big green trash bag full of them, we all laugh and make jokes about those bags, funny thing is they come in handy quite often. I wonder at the things people save, what prompts someone to save plastic bags, bread ties, license plates, bubble wrap or those annoying packing peanuts?
When we think of trash we think of material things, overlooking the trash that stops us in our tracks, the kind that pulls us down, the trash that comes from the lips of others. I have found that people of all ages, male or female, are capable of spewing forth hurtful, vicious, nasty words that can if we let them, change our lives and not for the better. Words can sometimes be the trash we must take out, even if they come from someone we love.
A person under duress may not intend to be hurtful, they may even say they are joking, but take a minute to look beyond the smile, look deeper and you may be surprised to see the layers of pain that have built up in that person’s heart. One upon the other layering until all room is gone. Then something happens, that person comes to a crossroad, they will endure, becoming determined to survive or they will become bitter and careless with their lives, tired of fighting to endure, in either case the trash in their lives needs to be dealt with.
The danger in not clearing the emotional trash away is that it simmers and much like a covered pot sooner or later it will explode and God help those who are caught up in the explosion. Life constantly changes and we that live in this world must flow with life’s changes, seeking God in all things, no matter how small and insignificant they may seem to us.
Change can lead us onto the path that leads us to those who need to hear of how we have struggled under the weight of internal trash, those who need to hear of how we have overcome those mountains of trash that we faced along the path of life. In hearing of our strife and overcoming spirit they may be encouraged to push forward and also be an over comer with God, facing and clearing away the trash that resides within and around them.
1 Corinthians 13:7 NKJ
Charity:
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureeth all things.
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