If Eve Only Knew

I was hanging out with my mom today on the love seat as the youngest Chickadee climbed all over us. I had forgotten she was coming over today. When she called to tell me she was about thirty minutes away, I had been snoozing on the couch as Baby Bird watched Sesame Street. I had been feeling under the weather for a few days, so after a marathon weekend, I was taking in Monday morning slowly. Very slowly. It was 10:30 a.m., and I was still in my p.j.'s. Not just breakfast dishes filled the sink, but also dishes from the day before. To say my kitchen was a disaster would be an understatement. My house was so not ready for my mom's visit. But I chose to get dressed before she arrived instead of pretending to work on the mess in the kitchen. She doesn't care, really, it's just a pride thing on my part.
Anyway, as we were conversing on the love seat, I kind of panned my eyes around the room to take in what other lapses in housekeeping were going on.
Among other things, I saw two laundry baskets full of clean clothes next to the couch. And then I remembered two more waited in the laundry room. Four baskets of clean clothes. And probably about four loads worth of dirty clothes waited in piles in bedrooms because the laundry baskets were taken!

Courtesy of Google Images

Eve, oh, Eve. Many times have I jokingly blamed you for the messes I get into, but this may be the one that takes the cake. And Adam, why, oh, why didn't you stop her?

Read here in Genesis 3 after the serpent tempts Eve to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. The only tree God said not to eat from.

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.  New International Version 2011

There! Right there! Did you see it? In verse seven it clearly states that, due to Eve's sin, laundry was invented! Forget about increased pains during childbirth as a consequence for sin. I laugh in the face of labor pains! At least you get a baby in the end. But for Adam and Eve to see each other's nakedness and in turn make the first clothes.

They had no idea what they were bringing into the world.

I wonder, if Eve would have had the foresight to know this concept "laundry," if she would have chosen differently. Sigh...we'll never know. She never could have imagined the impact that her sin, her one "little" sin, would have on the generations to come.

All Together Now..."O-o-o-o-o-o-o-klahoma...."

Would somebody please tell me when I moved to Oklahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain??? I guess it's just that time of year when the weather is trying to decide if Spring's coming and it's time to plant the garden or if we'll have a blizzard in a couple of weeks. That wind blows everything from hay to burger wrappers into our carport. Ah, the perks of living next to a four-way stop.
In order to keep all of that dirt and grime from being tracked into my house, I sweep out the carport. Well, I have to admit, now Rev. Hubby uses the gas-powered blower to blow out the carport, but I used to sweep it out all the time.    
It was such a time-consuming chore! And I'm not one to get only the dirt I can see. I have to move every single bike/big-wheel/scooter/Barbie jeep and rake/fishing pole/baby floatie out of the way to get every bit of dust I possibly can. In fact, I actually use two brooms to sweep. One is a smaller broom that I used to have inside the house. It's for the corners and edges of the carport. And I use the bigger push broom to move it all out.
All that time, I've got my eye on the prize: the line that separates the carport from the driveway. When the dirt's over the line, it is officially OUT of the carport. So I work really hard and get the carport as clean as possible, just to get it barely into the driveway. And then I stop. And look. And realize that if I leave it there, it will blow back into the carport in about two seconds.
So what am I gonna do? Do I rejoice that the job's done and go on about my day, or do I do what it takes to get the dirt as far away from my clean carport as possible? Truth be told, I kind of meet in the middle. I get the big broom and push the dirt to the side, into the yard along the driveway. I figure it will have a harder time blowing back from the grass than if it's just on the concrete. And then I declare victory!
I know in my life, when God has revealed an area of sin to me, I tend to want to do the bare minimum required to declare that the area of sin has been removed from my life.  Usually, it's just across the line, waiting for something to stress me out or to tempt me and it will blow right back in to my cleaned out spirit. What if I took that extra time, made that extra effort to push it far, far away from me, so there isn't even a possibility of it blowing back into my life? Taking it to the Lord everyday, every hour, even every moment if that's what it takes.
Rev. Hubby has used the following illustration many times, and it always speaks to me.

Courtesy of Google Images

Imagine a line. On one side of it is sin and on the other side is, well, not sin. Now, we can be anywhere on the "not sin" side and not be sinning, but should we try to see how close we can get to the line that separates us from sin, or should we try to stay as far away from that line as possible?

I vote for as far away as possible. How about you?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Courtesy of Google Images

The Chickadees and I were out playing in the yard. Riding bikes and scooters, tossing the softball, when I heard Chickadee #2 yell, "No! Don't mess up our flowers!" I turned to find the eldest pulling weeds out of one of our flower beds. Chickadee #2 had, just the day before, presented me with a bouquet of these purple-petaled plants and now I had to break it to her that they were weeds. A nuisance that needed to be removed. We all worked together and got approximately 1/64 of our yard weeded. It's a start, I guess! 

I explained to the girls that you have to grab the weed from the root, removing the whole plant, otherwise it would grow right back. And, even though it's pretty, we have to get rid of it because it will steal the sunlight and water from the plants we're trying to grow. 

Just like my life, when I'm trying to uproot sin, it's easy to clean up the part that everyone can see while ignoring what's below the surface. The real problem that will come back quickly until the root is removed. Continuing to suck the life out of what I want to grow and to flourish.

It had rained the day before, so it was pretty easy work. The ground is so much more willing to give up the weed's root after the rain.

When the day is gray and the rain falls, rather than complain that we have to stay indoors, I thank the Lord for the quenching of the earth's thirst, for this weather is necessary for life.
For me, too, this kind of "weather" is necessary. A heavy rain, maybe even a storm, that at first seems to ruin my plans, comes and nourishes me, makes me more pliable, so that the Lord can more easily remove the weeds in my life.