There were numerous sales after Christmas and I availed myself of one. Wal-Mart had Bissell vacuum cleaners on sale for only $47 so I snapped one up. Since I was in Kansas, my brother Scott helped with the very minor assembly and I was ready to go as soon as I returned to Houston. I've always maintained that I'm messy and not dirty and there is a huge difference. One nice perk that my apartment complex provides is free carpet cleaning several times per year so mine are in good shape. And yet, one scant minute after foot activating the on button, the dirt cup, where the suctioned refuse is collected in this bag-less vacuum, was full. I was shocked. I knew it had been awhile since my last vacuuming but the carpet appeared relatively clean and the amount of waste pulled out of the rug was staggering. It was either a great advertisement for the good folks at Bissell or a stinging rebuke of the surface sterility of the floor covering on which I daily tread. As a non-scientific observation, I would guess it's a combination of the two.
I would also guess my life mirrors my carpet; relatively spotless to the naked eye but not so pretty to even a perfunctory scratching of the surface. Jesus accused the religious leaders of His day of that same condition. The Savior likened their piety to eating utensils and cemeteries in Matthew 23:
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Looks like times haven't changed much. We, or at least I, do our best to post a religious front to the world like a FACEBOOK status but lurking beneath is a different landscape, one that needs a constant scouring. That's where the blood of Jesus comes in, removing the garbage of the abundance of sin in my life. The Lord knows it's there and I know it's there but I try to sweep it under the carpet, to use a really bad pun. I am in awe how God loves me when I struggle to love me. Maybe because He remembers I am made of dust. I think I've rubbed off on my carpets.
Applicable quote of the day:
Roseanne Barr
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
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E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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