I won’t lie…. I hate taking out the garbage. It’s a pain in the rear. I mean, I’m in the middle of doing something ever so important when I remember “oh yeah, it’s trash night!”
So I have to stop whatever it is I’m doing, go around the house and round up all the garbage cans, empty them into the bigger bag in the kitchen, then go down in the basement and gather up all the ones we’ve accumulated from the week, then take them all out to the alley. Easy enough.
For some reason though, it always seems like a struggle to do it. I don’t want to stop what I’m doing just to take the stupid trash out. So it puts me in a bad mood. I mean, I’ve got lots of things to be doing and get done before I leave here in a few weeks right? I can’t take the time out of my schedule to be bothered with such a little task right?
So I try to get it done as fast as I can, and of course that just makes things worse. I end up knocking one of the cans over and it spills. Now I have to clean that up! Then I get to the kitchen and as I try to empty them into the bigger bag, I miss and it spills on the floor. Ug. Finally I get all the bags and I try to take them all out in one trip so I don’t have to waste more time. Of course now I am juggling about 4 or 5 bags in my hands while trying to keep the cat from running outside as I go out and one of the bags gets stuck on the door handle and another bag catches one of the bricks on the side of the house and tears open and the cat doesn’t seem to understand he’s not allowed outside and this simple task turns into such a huge deal.
It’s funny though, by the time I get out to the alley and drop off the bags and rub the indentations I now have in my arms from the bands on the bags, I’m in such a foul mood. Happens everytime I take the trash out… and everytime I take it out, I look up at the sky and there is never a cloud in the way. I get a full view of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. Stars. Everywhere! In the cool, quiet night, I can silently stand in my back yard and stare up at the stars and every little thing that had upset me just seconds before is gone.
So I stand in my back yard until I remember it’s cold, but before I remember that, I remember to myself, “oh yeah, He’s really big!” Remembering that makes all those problems, all the stress of trying to get things ready for this trip, worrying about finances and every little thing that can get in the way of us taking the time to think about Him, just disappear.
Psalm 8: 3-4
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
