Talking Trash

Wednesdays were trash days, and I began to dread them. Sacking up and taking out the trash seemed like a simple job, one I could easily knock off in the space of twenty minutes while, at the same time, juggling two or three other household tasks. I didn’t understand how a routine household chore had turned into a major battlefront between my child and me.

I began waking up on Wednesday mornings, dreading the confrontation I was almost certain to face.

“It’s not that hard,” I’d say. “Why don’t you just take care of it and get it over with?”

“I will,” he’d say. “You don’t have to remind me.”

Yet I could hardly keep myself from offering reminders throughout the day.

“Temperature is supposed to drop tonight. Might want to get the trash out before the driveway freezes. Wouldn’t want you to slip and fall.”

Sometimes I’d start emptying garbage cans, banging them together for emphasis, hoping he’d take the hint and get moving. The more I said and did, however, the more quickly the conflict between us seemed to escalate. All I wanted was the trash taken out, a cheerful and compliant child, and a welcome absence of angry words and slamming doors.

One Wednesday night just as I was getting ready for bed, I heard him downstairs in the garage gathering up the trash and recycling. “Good,” I thought. “I should be able to get to sleep, knowing he’s taken care of it.”

A few minutes later I heard, “Mom, can you come outside?”

“Great,” I thought. “Now what?”

I was certain he’d slipped on the driveway and dropped the recycling bin. I began to imagine myself outside in my bathrobe in the wintry night air, cleaning shattered glass from the pavement.

He didn’t say a word. He simply pointed to the night sky full of stars, shining in glorious abundance.

And I believe that night sky was every bit as brilliant as the one God showed Abraham when he promised his faithfulness and blessing both to him and his descendants.

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his hosts!

Praise him, sun and moon,
    praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
    and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord!
    For he commanded and they were created.
And he established them forever and ever;
    he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

Psalm 148:1-6, ESV

Linking with Jennifer @ Getting Down With Jesus:

And with KD and the Painted Prose Community:

(I meant to post this first thing this morning, but I missed a step and fell while carrying a box of trash down to the garage. Because today's trash day.)