A week or so ago, my Ivan and I drove up the McKenzie Hwy. to a little restaurant called Dinky’s Cafe. A weird name, but it was soon very obvious that it was a place for the “locals” to congregate over great breakfast comfort food. We spent two hours just enjoying our experience there together.
While I was staring out the window, I saw a handmade wooden birdhouse hanging on one of the eves. It wasn’t long before I noticed that there was some movement in it, so I waited to see what was was making the commotion in that tiny little dwelling. I noticed there was a sort of covered porch on the front of it and soon I saw a little beak point out of the doorway.
The little bird had something in the beak; it was a mass of moss and grass. She (let’s assume it is a girl bird) began to shake her head quickly and before I knew it, the moss in her beak dropped down to the ground below. She proceeded to go back into the nest and came out to her little deck after about 2 minutes with some other dirty stuff in her beak, which she proceeded to drop as well. This continues for about 1/2 hour. Now, I realized she was cleaning her house of the dirt that had accumulated. This made me giggle because, as a child, Saturdays were the days for chores in the morning and fun in the afternoon. Yup, there was this little bird doing her Saturday morning chores.
As we drove toward town after breakfast, that little experiece brought to mind how important it is for us to also clean out the dirt in our lives. How much do we have in our memories and heart about hurtful experiences and people that have stopped us from being the best we can be? A parent, a sibling, an abuser, spouse, ex-spouse, boss, co-worker. Where did your “dirt” come from? Probably from those who also had a lot of dirt in their hearts too, huh? Maybe your “dirt” has been sitting around so long that you don’t even notice if anymore. Maybe you have piled more and more on top of it. Now, you realize it is still there and want to do something about it.
How do we “clean house” of all that “dirt”? Well, the first thing is to look back and recognize it. Don’t ignore it anymore. Secondly, dig deep and see the power that “dirt” has had on your decisions, relationships, behavior and your thinking. The third thing to do is seek help to take one “mass of moss” at a time and let it “drop to the ground below”, away from your life. It is over and it is gone unless you let it “stay n the house”, so to speak. The final step is to find practical tools so you don’t bring that “dirt” back in to the house ever again.
Don’t dwell on it, don’t keep rehashing it, evaluate your friendships and how you spend your time, put boundaries up about the time you spend with hurtful family members and dig deep into the Bible to learn who God says you are and not what all that “dirt in the house” has been saying to you.
So, time to clean house. You can have fun in the afternoon.