Piles

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are a reflection on Sunday’s message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/hear-a-message]

Every other Tuesday, a wonderful woman named Heidi cleans my house. It’s magical. Here’s what happens: on Monday nights, in preparation for the cleaning, any item on a kitchen counter is swept into the closest drawer; piles on the kitchen table are stacked haphazardly on a chair and then the chair is pushed under the table; clothes and toys on the floor are stuffed in a nearby bin or closet; things that belong downstairs get set on the stairs (close enough) or tossed onto the landing; and then—then—Heidi comes and sanitizes my house for two hours. It’s the stuff of dreams.

Of course, when Heidi leaves, the piles and the junk come back out from hiding and accumulate once more upon my table and my counters and my floors.

But what happens when instead of sweeping actual piles of junk into closets, we sweep our problems and our pasts under the metaphorical rug? What happens when we stumble through our days struggling beneath the weight of the piles and the rug?

And what happens when we bring our piles to church?

Well, a lot of things happen. Gossip, slander, fear, shame, anger, and more. But what would happen if we would drag our piles to the foot of the cross and leave them there instead? What if we really trusted Jesus to do what he promised to do? Or, more accurately, what if we believed Jesus when he told us that he had already redeemed our piles? Here we are, lugging around our piles of junk, and Jesus has already offered to carry it for us. Is it stubbornness that keeps us from handing it over? Pride? Mistrust?

I think it’s probably that we lack an awareness of grace. We know grace but we don’t really experience grace. We’re told to put on a happy face and to make due under any circumstances, so we square our shoulders and we face the world head on. And when something happens, we sweep it under the run and we move on. The challenge is to trust Jesus with everything, including the piles under the rug, even if your pile has grown so big that it now requires a carpet remnant rather than a rug. Nothing is beyond the redemptive power of Christ. He alone can take what lies hidden in us and transform it into beauty and strength.

[Kristin vanEyk lives in Kentwood, MI, where she learns each day to pull back the rug just a little.]