So for the past week our garbage disposal hasn’t worked (don’t panic Landlords, it’s fixed now!). In fact, it only worked once when we moved in and then quit working. Because I am deathly afraid of sticking my hand down garbage disposals, I refused to do too much rooting around down there myself, and just threw scraps of food into the trash. But the tricky thing was that then it quit draining. So when I did dishes, the sink would fill up with this greasy, grimy water, which took hours to drain. Then it left that oily scum all around the sink, so I was consantly scrubbing the sink too. Needless to say, this was getting old. So finally, today, Jeff, being the fearless warrior husband that he is, rolled up his sleeves (ok he was actually in short-sleeves because it’s super hot but it’s just an expression), and plunged his arm down into the disposal. He soon discovered that the disposal had just kicked itself off (as a safety feature) because there was something caught down there. Of all things–a rock. I have no idea how on earth a rock got into the disposal because I guarantee I have not been washing out any rock-filled dishes, but somehow a rock was in there and it was smashed to smithereens and then caused the thing to turn off. Within minutes, Jeff had retrieved the rock remnants, reset the disposal, and Wahlah!–it was fixed. Now I can wash dishes to my heart’s content with no nasty full sink of water. Now the water rushes right down the drain, and everything is clean and shiny and good as new. Yay!
So maybe it’s cheesy, but it made me think of Psalm 32, David’s testimony of the sorrow that comes from unconfessed sin. He writes,
“When I kept silent, my bones grew old, through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”
Sometimes we don’t even know the cause, but we know there’s something down there–something lurking down there in the disposal of our heart, and it’s too dark and scary to reach down our arm and get it out. We fear what it might be, or that it might be too painful if the blasted thing turns on and turns our hand to hamburger (ok, the metaphor breaks down there). But really, unless we are attentive, always attentive to keeping a short account with God and with others, we can get some pretty nasty buildup in our hearts, and before we know it, nothing is flowing. All is backed up, our joy is sapped, and there’s nasty greasy water all over our life.
I felt a little like that this week. I didn’t even know if it was sin, but there was something weighing on me, and it was “heavy upon me”. In situations like that, it almost doesn’t do any good to argue with yourself “is it sin or not?” There’s no use sitting around talking about the disposal, like “Do you think it’s a rock? No, I think it’s a potato peel. No, I think it’s a piece of glass. No…” blah blah blah. It doesn’t matter! The right thing is just to stick your darn hand down there and get it out whatever it is! Well that’s what I finally did and it turned out to be nothing more than a harmless little rock, but I tell you what–I can feel the difference. Things are flowing, my joy is back, the water’s running right down the drain and my sink is sparkly clean.
So the challenge this week is just to roll up your sleeve, plunge in your hand, and dig out the rock, whatever it may be. Maybe there’s nothing, praise God, but chances are there will be something soon enough. Maybe a frustration with your spouse, an unresolved issue with a friend, something you said that you realize was gossip that you need to confess. Maybe it’s just an attitude, a way in which you were just a teeny tiny bit dishonest. Whatever it is, it’s so not worth letting it clog up the drain! Reach in, confess it, make it right. Everything will flow so much better. Believe me.