Poop happens

A few days ago, I wasn’t watching where I was going and stepped in dog poop. I felt the warm mush ooze under my bare foot and, without looking, immediately knew what I had done, even before the smell reached my nostrils. Standing on my other foot, I yelled in utter disgust for my husband to come rescue me. He quickly arrived and removed the majority of the mess off my foot, and I proceeded to the bathroom for a good foot washing.

The unpleasant incident pushed my Recall button: I was 5 years old and my mother had just dressed me up real pretty in a new blouse and skirt she had recently sewn. We were going on a family outing, and I went outside to wait for our departure. As I waited, a little neighbor girl stopped by, just to hang out. We played for a short while, then, all of a sudden and with no warning, my friend picked up a stick, dipped it in nearby dog poop and smeared it down the front of my nice new white blouse. Shocked, hurt and angry, I ran into our house, crying. As my mother consoled me, she washed my face, pulled the dirty shirt off and replaced it with a clean one. She then undertook the unpleasant task of contacting the girl’s parents to inform them of what their little, jealous “angel” had done. As for me, it didn’t take long to recover from the trauma, and I went on to face many other unpleasant experiences common to young girls.

In mulling over these two incidents in my mind—one past, the other present—I thought, “There must be a spiritual application here.” And, sure enough, as I am apt to do, I came up with one.

As we walk through life in this downfallen, sinful world, we occasionally step in crud, because we don’t pay attention to where we are going, or we sin. Other times, we are just standing around minding our own business and, unexpectedly, someone picks up a stick and smears the “poop” of our culture all over us. How do we get rid of the crap and stench? Run crying to Jesus, who washes us clean, removes the filthy rags, replaces them with new ones and heals our spirits. Renewed, we get back in the game of life, until next time.

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7, NIV).

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