Cleaning up the yard made me think

 I don't know about you, but I think of things at strange times. The other day, I was out cleaning up the yard. This is something that I need to do regularly. Penny and I have two large dogs, Zeb is a golden retriever and Wrigley is a chocolate lab. As such, they leave many things around the yard. And it is important to clean up that which they leave. 

As I was picking up the yard, I began to think. Cleaning the yard up of that which they leave around is much like life. What do I mean? Let me put it this way.

As I go around the yard, looking for the gifts that they have left in the yard, I have to watch my step. I need to pay attention to that which is laying around. Just when I think I have it all cleaned up, I find another one that I missed. As I am stepping around, I have to be careful where I walk, for I can accidently step into their mess. Some of the mess is old and some is new. No matter how careful I am, I will miss some, and I will step in other (yuck). When I have it all cleaned up, it will begin all over again. The dogs will begin to leave things for me to clean up again. And if we do not clean it up regularly, we will soon have a gross, nasty, messy yard in which we don't even want to walk. I know this sounds kind of gross, but bear with me.

Isn't that just like life? Our lives are much like that. There is always the yucky sin that we leave laying around. It is gross. It can create such a mess for us in our lives. We try to avoid the mess, but often we find ourselves stepping right into it. We think that we have it all cleaned up, only to find there is some sin that we have missed. Some sins are old and some are new. Some aren't too messy and others are totally and completely nasty. And just when we think we have the yard of our life cleaned up, more is left. Sin just keeps coming back, it needs to be cleaned up all over again. If we fail to work at cleaning up the sin in our lives, it just gets nastier and messier. 

Daily, we need to return to that very place that cleans up the sin in our lives - our Baptism. Daily we return to those blessed waters, that clean us once again, washing away the mess of sin. If we don't return to the Lord, to our Baptism, the mess of our lives just gets worse and worse. Soon our lives are filled with sin, messy, nasty sin. The Spirit takes our lives and cleans us daily in the water of Baptsim. We confess our sins, and we are forgiven for those sins. He cleans our lives. He washes us daily. And we can't stop. We need to return to our Baptism over and over again. Being cleaned by the Lord.

Those were the thoughts running through my mind the other day as I cleaning up the yard. Yes, even in the nasty job that needs to be done, you can find the love of God. He gives that cleansing and love to us. Stop at this moment, return to your Baptism, and let the forgiveness of the Lord wash you clean.