Getting Unstuck

Getting Unstuck...

It is part of my morning ritual.  I hear Penny call in the monitor "Mama!  I need you!" from her crib.  I drag myself out of bed and shuffle down the hall to pick up my baby girl, who's morning afro puts me in a good mood instantaneously.  We head downstairs to the kitchen so Pen can have a cup of milk and I begin to put away dishes from the dishwasher that ran in the night, simply to reload it again with the rinsed dishes in the sink.

But here's the ritual part - almost EVERY morning I come to a dish that I forgot to rinse and has all kinds of dried bits of sauce or residue from yesterday's delectables on it.  It never fails that I have to scrub that dish under scalding hot water to get all of the gunk off before setting it in the dishwasher.  You would think that I would be more diligent in my nightly dish rinsing routine so as not to have to scrub the "morning after" yuck off.

This morning, as I was scrubbing away at the dried salsa on a plate, God reminded me of something that He has been doing since my life with Him began and it doesn't look pretty.  I come to him EVERY day with dried bits and residue on my heart that I let sit there.

But God is patient with my stuck on junk.

When I harbor feelings of disappointment.  When I think I "deserve" the outfit in the catalog.  When my frustrations become bitterness and I can't see the loveliness in the people close to me because of my own selfishness.  When the days of being a stay-at-home mom feel long and I carry the lie on my shoulders that says I should be doing something "for myself".

Honey, that is just the beginning of the junk that can become caked to my heart.

But the beauty that comes out of surrendering those things to God and allowing Him to show me how to see people the way he sees them, to respond to situations with patience and graciousness - this is why I can be glad that the junk doesn't go unnoticed.

Because God has told me (each of us, really) that we can "be confident of this: that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to compete it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

My favorite part of that - he is not finished with me yet but loves me junk, gunk and all!

Sometimes even the daily rituals that make life uninteresting can become interesting again with a change of perspective.  Washing dishes may not be any more fun than it was yesterday but at least today I know there is purpose in the process.