Digging in the trash can
Have you ever found yourself digging around in your kitchen trash can? Last week I noticed a discrepancy on our online bank statement. The amount I had written from our debit card in the checkbook was $5 less than what the statement showed. I thought I had thrown the receipt in the trash that morning so I decided to find it in case we needed it to get our money back. I thought the receipt was right on top but had to dig around a little bit. And it turned out I had ripped it up with a couple other receipts so it was in several pieces.
It was not exactly a pleasant job to begin digging through the trash. I knew that the trash bag was fairly new since I had just replaced it not long before this, and I figured the receipt would be pretty easy to find. But as I started digging I was surprised at how much trash was already in there in such a short time and how it was already getting gross and smelly! In less than a day we’d gotten rid of quite a bit of garbage. Pieces of paper and used packaging mixed with empty, sticky drink cups and smelly food scraps. The bag was fuller than I realized.
I thought how it can be the same in our lives. It does not take long to fill up our minds and lives with useless garbage. These things in themselves may be harmless as were the things in our trash can. But when they were all in their together, they created quite a mess and stink. All those pieces of garbage kept me from finding the tiny piece of paper I needed.
How many things do we allow in our lives that are really taking up space and wasting our time? We may think an activity has no harmful effects in our lives. But does it have any value? Or is it just a waste? So many things can quickly fill up our lives without our even being aware of it happening. I did not know how much trash we threw away in less than a day’s time until I started digging into it and remembering throwing away most of the items myself.
This experience reminded me how it is so easy to not pay attention to what we have filling our lives. We need to keep trash from filling our lives because the trash prevents us from paying attention to the important things that do matter, like our relationships with God, our family, and others. Once again this verse from Colossians 3:2 comes to my mind.
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
Next time you throw something in the garbage, take a moment to pause and think if there is any garbage filling up your heart that is making it hard to focus on God.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
Have a day of blessings!
Such a good reminder! Today I want to “think on those things.”
Jen 🙂
Bless you for this reminder.
It is so true, Bethany. Sometimes we do not realize how fast trash builds up in our lives. We should stay focused on the things that are important. Thank you for the great reminder.