Devotion

Trash Day
by Amy Browning

I realized something this week that I have taken for granted my whole life. I realized that I love trash day. I am a huge fan of Tuesday mornings. In the past I admit that I have often grumbled about having to take the trash to the road or bring the barrels back when they were empty but that was before this week. Now I am a changed woman. I appreciate my trash man and I don't even mind heading out in the cold to retrieve the barrel.

Last week, the week before this life-changing week, we forgot about trash day. We just got too busy with things and the trash never made it to the road. By Monday the trash was heaped up and spilling all over the place. There were little bags, big bags and even some ripped bags that just overflowed the barrel and covered the ground. I was disgusted. For one thing how does a family of three produce that much trash and for another thing how in the world was it all getting to the road? I sure wasn't taking it up there.

I soon nominated my husband for the chore and 11:00 p.m. Monday night he began hauling the trash to the road. When I awoke the next morning I expected to see some of it left behind or perhaps all of it still there. As I peered out the window I was amazed to see every last bag and scrap of trash had disappeared. There was the beautiful empty barrel but not a piece of garbage anywhere.

I began to hum a small tune as I cleaned the house. I began to appreciate the disappearing trash scene that happened every week. I was downright giddy that all the garbage was gone and I began to dance a small jig in the kitchen. No matter how much garbage we produced that same small miracle happened every week. It simply disappeared never to be seen again.

This week I am a changed woman. I am absolutely ecstatic about trash day now. I am thrilled when all the garbage my life has produced through the week is taken away. It doesn't even bother me that there is always another bag ready to go out by the time the empty barrel gets back. After all, there is always next week. As I celebrated, my lapse into joyous dancing and singing was suddenly halted by a most amazing thought.

While I was gazing out the window at the empty can I couldn't help but see a picture of myself heading for the road carrying more trash. This time it was my heart that I carried out there and placed next to all the trash. I saw that it was overflowing with jealousy and lying and other assorted sins. It appeared filthy and good for nothing but the trash heap. I left the heart there and turned to go, sobbing as I walked back towards the house.

As I watched this scene playing in my mind, a man appeared. He carried with him garbage from all over the street. As I watched, he lifted my filthy heart and began to lovingly and tenderly clean it. He emptied the garbage from inside and polished the outside until it shone. He then carried the heart to the door and presented it to me sparkling and clean with no residue left from any of the trash it had harbored. As I gratefully took it from him, he spoke and told me that all of the sin had been washed away and was remembered no more. In it's place he would rule my heart as King and Lord of my life.

I accepted the heart with tears streaming down my face and wondered how I could ever pay this man for the miracle he had given me. As if he could read my mind he assured me there was nothing I needed to do to pay him. He said it was a gift that was mine if I cared to receive it. He said I could have peace and love and forgiveness the rest of my life and that he had already paid for it all on a cross long, long ago. As I stood there in awe he reached out his hand to me and I saw that it was pierced as if with a nail. He had indeed paid for my new heart and he had given it to me in place of the trash I had carried out to the road. I was given beauty for ashes and joy for mourning. I had received a gift so priceless that I desired nothing more than to pass it on to others that they might know the same peace and forgiveness that I had found.

When the scene in my head ended, I found myself celebrating once again. This time I wasn't celebrating the trash man. I was celebrating Jesus and the life-changing gift He had given me. I was embracing once again the beautiful forgiveness and clean heart that He has given me.

As I thought about it some more I realized that often I throw trash back into this beautiful heart that I was given. As I sadly thought about that fact I understood though that Jesus is even better than the trash man. Because I am human I will continue to sin and do things that are wrong. My Jesus has made a way to take care of those sins. He performs miracles of forgiveness whenever I ask. I don't have to wait until Tuesday or any other day. I can approach my Savior anytime and He removes the trash and polishes my heart once again. I have been given an incredible gift that is free to all of mankind. There are no limits to Jesus' love and forgiveness. He cleans and repairs the most damaged of hearts and gives them back to us perfect and reborn. He rules those same hearts with love and desires to do the same for every man or woman alive today. There is no one He doesn't desire to love and forgive.

I am a changed woman now. I love Tuesdays. I love the miracle of trash day. Most of all, though, I love the miracle of the clean heart that I was given and I cherish the forgiveness of God every single day of my life.