Leaning

1 Chronicles 16:11: Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

I don’t know how you manage your trash and recycling. It depends on where you live, and in Manassas, for single family homes, the City provides two wheeled bins: a green one for recycling (get it?) with a helpful list on the top about what can and cannot be put in that bin. Then there is the black container for trash. This one sports stern warnings about what the City considers trash. Residents don’t dare put in anything but trash for fear of the Trash Police, who just might be lurking. Before trash/recycling pickup days, residents who want to take advantage of the service roll their bins to the street and roll them back to where they are stored after the trash and recycling are picked up. Because our yard slopes down from where the bins are stored, our friend Mr. Gravity makes rolling the bins to their place beside the curb a near-runway event. When it’s time to bring the bins back, Mr. Gravity is no longer our friend, and I find that I must pull on the bins and find myself leaning forward to complete the task.

It seems there’s a parable of sorts in this weekly task. We can find it easy to involve ourselves in some behaviors or attitude that we really shouldn’t. It’s like me rolling the bins down to their place. But changing that behavior or attitude takes effort—it involves leaning forward to do what needs to be done.

Even when we are on a downward slope, God is there, urging us to change and helping us when we do decide to do so. It’s not our strength that makes this happen: God has guaranteed God’s help and strength. All we have to do is ask, and all can be restored, even again and again. Praise God for God’s strength, for God’s persistence and for God’s love that sent us Jesus Christ, who saved us by his blood and by leaning in to be our Savior. Amen.