The Trash Bin…

Every Thursday morning, like clockwork, our trash-man rolls down the lane to gather this week’s investment in a local landfill from our trash bin.

Every two months a billing for this service shows up in our mailbox.

Each week, as I shop for our groceries, I realize there are going to be additional costs to these groceries beyond the initial purchase price.  I’m going to have to pay to drive them home, pay to store them in the fridge, pay to store them in jars or whatever, pay to cook them, pay to wash the pots and pans, pay to wash the dishes on which the food is served, pay to store the leftovers, pay to reheat them, pay to rewash the pots, pay to rewash the dishes, pay to throw away the original packaging… so that the guy will have something to collect in the trash bin.

We have a trash bin in our kitchen… a double lined basket that we bought 27 years ago — a heavy reed basket my husband bought when he worked for World Concern.  I marvel that it looks to be in the same condition it did the first day he brought it home.  It’s served a very useful purpose — and it still looks good.  It’s held a lot of trash — hundreds of bags of trash per year – every year – for the last 27 years.  And it’s still strong.

As I considered this trash basket while I washed the lid, I thought of our lives being sort of like trash baskets… and the need for regular emptying, cleansing and relining.  Still strong.  Still serving.  Still useful.  Still dependable.  Still called to be available for whatever comes…

I thought of Nehemiah and the building of the wall… the rubbish in the way and the seeming relentless pursuit of the enemy to destroy the building of the wall.  But they built the wall because “the people had a mind to work.”  The opposition came in like a flood — fear might have enveloped the people but for this one thing: the power of the Lord.

As believers, we have a lot of people trying to destroy the work of our hands: the work the Lord has given us to do.  We must take seriously the commands of the LORD, to put on the whole armour of God, to stand, and having done all: to stand therefore… (Eph. 6).

In the face of opposition, faith in the Lord and in the power of His might enables us to carry on and do the work He’s called us to do.

God had brought their counsel to nought,
that we returned all of us to the wall,
every one unto his work.

I have so much to share with you all… I pray for the grace, courage, discipline and wisdom to resume and continue blogging.  Like clock work.  The trash bin has been emptied.  Knowing opposition waits at the door.