One of my chores at my childhood home was raking leaves with the rest of the family. I didn’t enjoy it, but the crisp Fall air, the smell of freshly fallen leaves that crunched under your feet helped make the task bearable. Also, the sound of everyone’s rakes scraping the ground in rhythm, as the leaves danced from high in the tree and floated to the ground soothed the soul. Even the clean yard afterward that gave us the shot of dopamine of a completed task, made the Autumn ritual tolerable. And there was also another fun bonus at the end. After raking a huge, chest high, pile of leaves, my sister and I would get a running start and jump right in the middle, rake them up and jump in again and again. After the last jump we would recline in them and stare at the sky. It was a fun fall ritual in East Tennessee where the leaves were so abundant, it could take a couple of hours to rake them all each weekend until the last ones were gone. One year, we blissfully jumped into the pile but quickly noticed an unpleasant smell. A dog had been in the yard and did his business, but the leaves had hidden it and covered its smell. As we raked, the smelly stink bomb was rolled up to the middle of the leaf pile unknown to us until we jumped right into it. We were expecting fun and bliss, but instead our stomachs were turned by the stench. The bonus at the end of our labor was ruined by something stinky. It was on our clothes, so they had to be shed at the door and put in the washer.
The wisest man ever, once warned that foolishness on our part can ruin a reputation of a lifetime of good things done. He says, “As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.”(Ecclesiastes 10:1) King Solomon certainly knew this. He had a lifetime of wise decisions made and yet his foolishness in just a few areas of his life tainted his legacy. The thing is, even the wisest man to ever live couldn’t keep himself from messing up. Every single one of us needs Jesus to change our hearts and minds to redeem us from our stinkiest mess ups. That is why Jesus’ story is called Good News! He makes us a new creation and renews our hearts and minds to act like Him, like giving us a fresh new set of clean clothes to put on and taking the soiled ones off.
Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.
