Another crumb. Maybe two. I'll clean them up later. Later when I don't have other distractions.
A week later. Maybe two. Still crumbs on the floor. I'll clean them up later. Later when I don't have other distractions.
Stepping on crumbs. No way to avoid them. Under the table. Under the cupboards. By the door. It was just a few crumbs. What happened? How did it get this far?
No way to avoid it anymore. It's gotten too far. Time to get to work. Sweep up the crumbs one at a time. A tiny little crumb. A harmless little crumb. One. Two. Multiplied so quickly. A pile of crumbs.
Distractions must be put aside. The crumbs must be swept up. They must be thrown away.
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The last couple of weeks of my pregnancy I got "tired". Really this tiredness was just laziness masked as being tired. Rather than taking a few seconds--maybe a couple of minutes--to sweep up the crumbs, I wanted to get upstairs and check Facebook, email, blogs. I lost discipline in my life.
Before I could sweep up the crumbs, I needed to do all of the dishes. Dishes became my distraction. Once the dishes were done, I was too tired. I just needed to put my feet up. I'll clean them up later.
I'll go work on some laundry first. Get the first load in. The computer, just a few feet away, draws me in. I'll get on for a couple of minutes. The crumbs can wait. I'll clean them up later.
It got to the point that I put off this simple task because Kaylee was a distraction. If I made the piles of crumbs, she would just play in the mess. "It would be better to just leave them all over the floor." The thoughts of a lazy, muddled-minded mommy. I'll clean them up later.
Sometimes, it takes someone to intervene and clear away the distractions. My dear husband took Kaylee to the zoo, my intentions made clear that I would work on cleaning while they were away. The floor would be clean. No more "later". No more crumbs.
They finally got swept up.
As I was cleaning up the literal crumbs, I was thinking about how so often I tend to allow "little distractions" to get in the way of cleaning up my spiritual life. I know that I really need to do certain things. Not only do I need to do them, but wouldn't my life be so much better if I wasn't stepping on "crumbs" all day? We need to actively put aside our distractions so that we can stop avoiding the crumbs. We need to fully enter into His presence. When we avoid the crumbs for so long, life becomes increasingly messy. However, if we spend time being diligent every single day, the crumbs won't pile up. We sweep our sins to the feet of the Father. He nailed them to the cross with Jesus. We become cleaner. He makes us clean.
