Pages

Sunday, January 6, 2008

FAITH: Sweeping


I've thought about a certain aspect of sweeping my quad a number of times, but today, I saw in it a useful analogy.

Dorm rooms get dirty. Astroturf, crumbs, and sand and salt for anti-ice gradually accumulates. I can't stand having to kick that off of my feet every time I take a few steps, so I sweep the quad. The dirt doesn't seem to bother my roommates as much, since they don't ever sweep. So a few times, I've considered just sweeping the parts of the quad that I go to, so that when their parts get dirty enough, they'll see why sweeping's a good thing and maybe help out a bit.
But then I realized that it wouldn't work because they would just track dirt from their parts over to the parts that I had just cleaned.

Here's the analogy. God wants us to give over to him every aspect of our lives - our recreational pursuits, our work, our relationships - everthing. I can't even say that I give over most things. I hoard most of the gifts He's given me, and they rot in the darkness of my unpure motivations. But even if I were to hold everything back but one thing, that one thing, the one area where I would continue to serve myself, would inevitably defile the rest of my "quad." God wants us to realize that it must be everything with nothing held back. Why should we give it all to him? Because he knows best how to transform and use my quad to be a place where people can feel loved and welcomed into his family.

Good reading, which is where the idea for this connection came from: My Heart - Christ's Home, by Robert Munger.

No comments: