Garbage

I saw something today that I never expected to see because I didn't even know it existed. I saw what looked like a normal garbage truck coming down the street, slowly but surely. That part was normal. The abnormal part was that I didn't see anyone getting out of the truck to grab the garbage as it went. As it got closer, I finally saw the reason for this: on the side of the truck was a claw that would shoot out and grab each garbage can, chuck the garbage in the truck, and set the container down again before moving on. You city folks who have seen this day in and day out may wonder how I could have made it so far without seeing this, but this is something new to me, and being new, my brain started thinking about it.

In looking at this process of garbage disposal, I realized how impersonal it is, and for garbage disposal I don't think that's a bad thing, but I was brought back to the way I deal with my own mental and emotional junk. When I feel anything messy or uncomfortable, I have this tendency to mentally back away from it, to disengage and try to avoid having to deal with it. But that's not the approach that Jesus took with our human mess. Jesus lived with us and saw our sinfulness. Jesus loved us in our brokenness, loved us enough to not only see the mess we had gotten ourselves into, but also loved us enough to take our blame on himself and experience the consequences for our sins. And he loves us enough to take the mess we have and mold it into something beautiful, like an artist can make a piece of wonder out of a pile of junk. God doesn't run from our garbage, He transforms.