Sometimes the most mundane tasks can teach the most profound
lessons. Let’s take poop for
instance. That’s right, I said it. Poop.
No one wants to talk about it because it’s gross, stinky, and embarrassing. Yet it is part of life. Doctors need to know about a patient’s poop
when making certain diagnoses or providing certain treatment. Parents seem to think nothing of comparing
their children’s poop as a matter of course.
And then there’s pet owners.
One of my dogs is quite finicky when it comes to her
#2. She will only go on a walk, not in
the backyard, unless we’ve been very bad and haven’t walked her for a couple of
days. And what’s more, she has in her
mind a certain spot (I guess) or a certain amount of time or walking she needs
to get done before she is ready to go.
Yet, as a responsible dog owner, I don’t leave the house
without “the pooper-scooper”. Therefore,
no matter how far from home my dog poops, I still have to pick it up and carry
it back, so as to dispose of it properly (you know, where poop belongs – in the
toilet).
The other day, I was stricken by how similar poop is to
sin. Sin is another subject no one wants
to talk about. Lots of people like to
commit sin, but they just don’t like to admit that that’s what they’re
doing. Regardless, no matter how much we
try to disassociate our actions from the definition of sin (turning away from
God/disobeying Him), God is always there to pick up the pieces and dispose of
them properly. He forgives, even though
He’d much prefer that we obey than repent.
I’m sure sometimes He also scratches His head and wonders if
we really believe that we are fooling Him, when we go out of our way to hide
our sin. He knows it’s there, and He
knows where it belongs. Maybe we can do
Him a favor and at least quit trying to keep it from Him. We may be embarrassed by our sin, but He isn’t. He’s saddened by it, but as long as we live
in this fallen world, we will sin. And
dogs will poop. It is what it is. Just clean it up and move on.