Hidden dirt!

When was the last time you cleaned under your washer & dryer? If you're like me, it was either when you moved or when you last got a new washer & dryer! My plugged sink adventure this week led me to clean places that seldom if ever get attention, under the sink and under my washer and dryer. Of course, no one usually sees these places -- not guests, and not even us. I should not have been surprised at how totally gross it was back under there!

Is life like that sometimes, too? Does it take some calamity to make us examine and perhaps clean out an area of our life that we might normally just ignore? For me, I'm thinking that maybe my loss of my current job is doing that. It definitely has caused me to examine some deep recesses of my heart, of my giftedness, of my career path(s), and perhaps even of my faith walk with God. I don't like it much, of course. I'd rather not have ever had to get into this mess. And just like I struggled and grimaced as I worked through my plugged sink ordeal, it's tough going to face some of my buried personal problems. But. . . when it's all said and done, things are better off. At home, I've got a cleaned out drain line along with a clean under-sink cabinet, and even clean laundry room floor under my washer and dryer; in my own life, I don't know the final outcome, but I know that my character & my faith are getting cleaned up and strengthened through my struggles.