Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! ~ Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV)
A recent Denver snowstorm, and a desire to keep our garage floor as clean as possible, has exposed a perspective on my wife that I’ve not fully appreciated before.
A drive through the streets of our neighboring community provides the perfect opportunity for snow to cling to the wheel wells of our car. It’s quite surprising just how much snow can accumulate in a few miles. As we pull into the driveway of our home, push the garage door opener and point our 2003 Subaru to its rightful place inside the garage, I stop short… Mary has a job to do; one that she dutifully and competently performs, and as I have learned, one that she seems to enjoy.
She heads to each of the wheels and with pinpoint accuracy she kicks the precise location that dislodges the clumps of slush that have accumulated. With the care of a surgeon she assesses the situation, aims her foot and effectively disconnects the unwanted snow from the surrounding space. Once complete she has left four piles of dark and dirty snow in our driveway… they were uninvited guests to a garage floor, and as such, their permission to enter had been revoked.
Traveling through life; traversing the slush; provides ample opportunity for unwanted and unexpected clumps to accumulate. We continue to travel, undaunted, ignorant, numb to the signs and the potential impact. But it’s there. Lots of it. Stuff that hangs on, that piles up, that collects, without invitation, without immediate recognition.
Unconfronted, these clumps make a mess. They melt down at the most inopportune times. While at first the slop seems to be confined to “the outside,” before long it starts to show up on “the inside.” In dialogs, in unexpected reactions, in flare-ups, in sin…
This is where Mary comes into play… for accountability and for thoughtful confrontation.
An unexamined life may remain functional, but in time it can devastate and destroy… because nobody confronted the slush.
How do your wheel wells look? What’s happening to your garage floor? Are you convinced that nobody notices, that it’s harmless?
Find Mary. Find somebody to walk around your life and help you examine what’s happening; and then give them permission to intervene; to kick, if necessary…
It’s slushy out.
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