The Trash Collector

I love Thursday morning.  It is a morning when for at least a moment, the house is entirely free of trash.  Thursday is the day our trash collector comes.  There is a sense of happiness and satisfaction that comes with seeing all the trash cans in the house empty.  Last Thursday morning I thought I had missed the garbage man.  It was a moment of dread as I looked at our two recycle bins overflowing with trash and knowing it would be an entire week before I could get rid of it all, meanwhile collecting even more and having nowhere to put it.  It turned out I didn't miss the garbage man, and that day I was feeling a little extra gratitude for the men who come and take my trash away.  I acknowledged that they only do this for me when I take the responsibility of putting it out on the sidewalk for them.  I was grateful for the system.  Each week I get to go through my house, gather up all the things I want thrown out, put it out on the curb and sometime during the day it will magically disappear.  And then it hit me, this is how the Savior works.  He is my own individual trash collector.  Each week my own self gets cluttered inevitably with a lot of trash.  This trash is sins, it is heart ache, pain, sorrow, weariness, anger, and whole lot of other negative, yucky, uncomfortable stuff just sitting inside me.  The Savior will not come in and gather my trash for me to take it away.  I have to take the responsibility to gather it all up myself and put it in front of him.  I can say, "here, I don't want this anymore, it doesn't feel good, so I'm giving it to you."  We don't ask him to take it, we make the choice to give it to him.  And just like that, it can be gone.  Of course each day brings new trash and it is impossible for our trash cans to be empty all the time.  But what is great about our Savior Jesus Christ is that he doesn't come just once a week, we don't ever have to worry about missing him, or thinking it is too late. Never.   He is standing outside constantly waiting for us, always there, ready and willing to take away our trash for us, the moment we are willing to give it to him.  He does this for me.  I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ.  He makes life livable.