The Dirt in my Dustpan

  The other day; well, let’s get real here friends, EVERYDAY I have dirt in my dustpan.  We live in the country and our land is VERY sandy, so we can build sandcastles inside the house all day long.   As I was saying though, the other day I swept the last little bit of daily mess into the dustpan and for some reason decided to examine it.  Gross.  Super gross I know, but something was drawing me near. I wish I had that machine in “Honey I Shrunk the Kids.”  You, know the one that shrunk the kids?  I would have swum in the filth. I was looking for a discovery-buried treasure perhaps and I found it!  Tender messages from above saying look harder and really examine the dust in your dustpan.

  And so I began to comb through what normally looks like a piling heap of gritty trash, table scraps, and boy oh boy LOTS of hair.  Did I mention we have 3 girls?  What I found was a whole lot of life happening around here!  Signs that our family enjoys the gift of the outdoors; a ladybug, mounds of sand, a HUGE housefly, green onion from the garden and my absolute favorite-chicken poop!  Yeah that’s right, you read correctly chicken-poop!  Our chickens give us breakfast each morning and breakfast around here is taken very seriously!  The two pieces of food worth mentioning is the pea that our youngest must have dropped from her highchair, a reminder that she is growing-up quickly and already eating what we eat.   And the second is TORTILLA CHIPS! I think the Mister may be half tortilla chip because when in doubt you will see him eating “his” tortilla chips and salsa-he LOVES them.  It is a part of him I have grown to adore.   Pieces and parts of toys frequently find a home in my dustpan.  On this occasion it was a tiny Lego from something I had built with our middle child.  What an accomplished feeling she had that afternoon.  I also found a blue crayon swimming amongst a rainbow of colorful crayon flecks that came from our first grader and also, budding artist!  There was the leftover part of a Band-Aid, which represented healing in one of our daughters. A healing so grand not only did my heart beat deeper but also my eyes began to fill with a watery mess of gratitude.  I discovered a leftover wood chip from the wall my husband built with his own strong and able hands. I continued to sift through the muck and found many tiny fragments of memories that had been scattered over the floor from just a few days.

  I made a real connection with Martha through this experience.  In Luke chapter 10, Jesus is invited into Martha’s home!   As soon as He entered, Mary, Martha’s sister, was right at His feet, soaking up EVERYTHING He said.  The exact word in the bible for Martha at this moment was, “distracted.”  She was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made-and that my friend, is me.  I am so distracted by the daily grind of it all that I often miss moments to listen to Jesus.  I often forget to praise Him with thanksgiving because I am obsessed with what I can mark off next on my to-do list.  Martha ends up complaining about her sister to Jesus. Jesus tells Martha not to worry and to focus on the one thing that will not be taken from her (Jesus.)  Sometimes life can be that simple.  Chores around the house can be less consuming when accomplished from a different part of the heart.  I feel like I often preach this message to our oldest but yet forget to actually show her how to live it out. I have noticed whatever the task may be, working with a thankful spirit allows Jesus to work his magic much quicker inside me.

   Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  Life changed for me when I started living that verse out.  I found VALUE in everyday things, including the dust in my dustpan.  It doesn’t come naturally and I still easily fall short enjoying ALL my daily chores.  As long as I am faithful and continue to show gratitude in whatever I do then I can also defeat the same “distractions” Martha dealt with many years ago.

  Woven in between the kaleidoscope of girl hair (blonde, red and brown) in the dustpan is a bunch of tiny brindle dog hairs. Our Boxer, Diesel, is mine and the Mister’s first baby, one of our girl’s first words, and definitely their first love. In all 3 pregnancies I would roll out of my restless bed and cuddle with him at night laying on the floor until I could feel my body getting back into a sleepy rhythm. The dust in my dustpan isn't just dust; it is a novel of weekly experiences. It’s life happening! I will choose to rejoice and be glad in it!

  I will leave you with this verse. For me it resonates deep within because we just finished planting our first BIG garden and I have to believe that even if nothing grows I will still be joyful, continue to give thanks, work hard everyday, and find strength from above.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

  Lord, please help me not to get so caught up in the task of my to-do list but in my task to seek you in all I do.  AMEN

Kirsi