Proverbs 25:4 – Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. (KJV)
We're not really ever very far from trash. In this affluent part of the world where we can find almost anything we could want in a disposable form, where fast food is served up in containers that later become litter, where boxes blow off vehicles on their way to the dump and are left to languish in the ditch, we really are not ever very far from trash.
We generate trash in our homes, it makes its way through snail mail, and we even find it in our e-mail.
Most servers have a programme whereby they can circumvent any trash coming to your box, so that it doesn't get delivered. For those who would receive a tremendous amount, it may well behoove them to subscribe to this service. Although e-mail trash is annoying, and obliterating it was a consideration, I don't get very much, don't read it, and so my choice is to allow it to come through.
As with the trash along the trails that annoys me, I pick up what I can, realizing that quite possibly, I mightn't see or appreciate all that is beautiful were it not for the trash in my life. We might think we would like to live in a perfect and waste-free world; however, I wonder: would I really appreciate the beauty of the correctly spoken and written word if that were all I was ever exposed to? Would I see the subtle signs of spring if winter's wastes weren't scattered amongst some things? Would I revel in watching the water run down the ditches to the culverts if I didn't sometimes have to clear the way? Would I actually see the good God does if there weren't the bad He doesn't?
Prayer: Dear God, help us to approach the litter in our lives in a much different way. Let us do what we can to diminish it, knowing that some will always be there. Let us learn to look after what we are given, even if it means picking up what others toss aside; and let us learn to look always for the beauty that lies beyond the trash. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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