What's Wrong With Cleaning Up Someone Else's Mess?

This morning as I drove to church, I saw an unusual sight.  A middle aged woman was out taking a walk along the side of the road.  What caught my attention was that, as she walked along, she stopped every few feet to pick up the trash that others had presumably tossed out of their car windows.  My mind immediately began to wonder why she cleaning up other peoples litter.  Obviously I don't know her answer, perhaps I should have stopped to ask, but I concluded that she must be doing it out of some sense of love.  Love for her neighborhood, love for this city, love for the earth, who knows?

As I drove on, I couldn't stop thinking about why this lady was out picking up the mess that others had left behind.  A few minutes later, a Bible verse that says, "Love covers a multitude of sins" popped into my mind.  I began to think about how many people, including myself, have made mistakes in life, and in the process, have littered our lives with multiple messes.  It is so easy to see everyone's problems, and just continue on with our lives.  Just as we drive past, or perhaps even walk right over garbage on the ground, often times, we ignore the plight of those who find themselves in a mess.  After all, they made the mess, not us.  Why should we clean up the results of someones bad decision? To make matters worse, we will often gripe and complain.  "Why doesn't someone clean up this trash on the road?" we will ask.  "Someone needs to do something about all this!" we declare with an air of feigned conviction. 

Two things came to my mind as I continued driving down the road.  The first was the thought that this is my neighborhood, my city, my place of residence.  The city of Fresno, like many other cities, is in a financial mess and budgets are being cut left and right.  It is easy to drive down the road, see a problem, complain about it, but do nothing to solve the issue.  What would happen if we started to care for our neighborhoods, and instead of waiting for them to hire more people, we ourselves began to clean up our own block?  What would happen if we decided that, since we live here, lets make it the best we possibly can?  Anyone can complain about all the trash lying around, but it takes a bigger person to actually bend down and pick something up.  I know, "that's what we pay taxes for", but that is clearly not working and its getting worse.  We can sit around, complain about it, hope it gets better, or we can do something about it.  Sure, one person can't clean the whole city, but one person can make a difference on their own block.

The second thing that came to my mind is, how much better of a place would this be if we took a little time to help someone who has made a mess of their life?  What would happen if we genuinely loved people and truly cared for each other?  What if, instead of bashing others on Twitter or Facebook, we began to cover their mess with love?  Many of us were shown a great amount of grace and mercy by God.  He forgave many of us for some serious stuff.  His love covered our multitude of sins.  Don't we owe it to someone else to help them clean up their own mess?  Some will argue that many don't want help, and that could be true, but are we at least trying?

So, as you drive out of your neighborhood tomorrow, or as you take your morning walk, you can do one of two things.  You can complain about everything that is wrong, or you can take action and do something about it.  And as we go through life, we can keep complaining about how bad society is, how messed up people are, and how crazy the world is getting, or we can step out and take a little time to get involved in peoples lives.  We can try to help those we can, and pray for those who we cant.  The choice is ultimately yours, cry and complain, or try to be a solution to the problem.  After all, what is so wrong with trying to help clean up someone else's mess?

Get Back Up And Finish!

A few months ago, my son Ethan tried out for the track team again.  Last year he mainly competed in long distance running events.  This year he competed in the triple jump and the 80 meter hurdles, two events he had never tried before.  He clearly did not get his track and field talents from his father.  I strongly dislike running, and then to have to jump over a hurdle on top of that, no thanks!  He made it to the district championships in the triple jump and has had even more success in the hurdles.

The interesting part of the story is that he advanced to the district championships by finishing third out of four runners.  Then in the district championships he advanced to the area qualifiers by again finishing third out of four runners.  In each race, the top four advanced to the next level, so he moved on.  This past weekend, he ran in the area qualifiers and something strange happened!  Again, he is a beginner who had never run the hurdles before, but to this point had done very well in spite of his inexperience.  

Only three runners showed up early Saturday morning, so he was guaranteed third place.  The race began and the three boys quickly moved down the track.  At the second hurdle, Ethan stumbled and crashed to the ground.  My heart sank and I immediately felt bad for him, and became concerned about whether or not he was hurt.  Before I could move, he jumped back up, climbed over the next hurdle and got back in the race.  Needless to say, he was too far behind to have any chance at winning.  He made his way down the track and finished the race about five seconds behind the other runners.  I made my way towards him and chewed him out for not tying his shoe, then hugged him and told him he did a great job this year, and would be even better next year.

As we were gathering our stuff to leave, his coach came around, and after inquiring, we discovered that even though he stumbled, fell and finished third (last), because he got back up and finished the race, he still advanced to the area finals!  Had he not gotten back up and completed the race, he would have been disqualified and would not advance.

We live in a day and age where it is so easy to just give up and not finish what we started.  Give up on the marriage, leave the team before finishing the goals you set out to accomplish, whatever the case, most of us simply give up rather then get back up from an embarrassing mistake or painful experience.

What is my point today?  Simple!  If you have stumbled and fell in the course of this life, don't quit, don't give up, get back up and finish what you started.  Stumbled and didn't finish school, get back up and go register.  Messed some things up in the marriage, get back up and go fix it.  Made a mistake and messed the career up, go brush up the resume up and find a new job.  Whatever the circumstances are, no matter how severe your case is, in most cases, people will not remember whether or not you stumbled and fell, how long it took you to finish, or what all the negative circumstances were.  In most cases, people will simply remember whether or not you finished!

So to you who find yourself in a position that I have been in many times, I encourage you to "Get back up and finish" and ponder the words of Ernest A. Guest:

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Make Every Day Count

As I celebrated yet another birthday a few weeks ago, the reality of "over the hill" hit me in a very real way.  As I get older, I realize that some day God will call my number and my time on this earth will end.  While this may sound like a negative thing, I'm confident in my destination after I die, so that in itself does not worry me.

Thinking about this has really made me reflect on and re prioritize my life.  The first thing I realized was that at my age, thanking God for another year of life is no longer sufficient.  When you have no idea when you will take your last breath, being thankful for each day somehow seems more appropriate. 

I have also realized that some of the things that were once so important have become almost foolish and a waste of time.  At the risk of sounding arrogant (those who know me best know that I'm not), it has become necessary to even let some old relationships die.  No time for people with nothing but problems and drama, yet are perfectly content to stay there and do nothing to change.  No more time for one sided business relationships or even "friendships" that are one sided and unbalanced.  Maybe it’s drastic, but it’s working great for me!

If nothing else, join me in being thankful for every day of life you are granted.  When you begin to be thankful on a daily basis, you will realize that, because there is no endless supply, every day really does count.  As each day begins to take on a new, more meaningful purpose, your priorities will have to change.  You will understand that you have no time for those with drama, because there are so many people with various needs that will gladly take the help you offer.  The experience of helping other less fortunate individuals will show you how blessed you really are, and in spite of the negative things that we experience in our own lives, will show us how good our life really is.

So, whether you are seventeen, thirty seven, or seventy seven, life is precious and every day could be our last, so make sure to "Make Every Day Count"!