Yesterday I was on a cleaning frenzy to remove any allergens that might have caused Jon to have a really bad allergic reaction (turns out it was pink-eye and my efforts to not catch it were futile). I started with the carpet and thought, "Hey, I'll look through the icky vacuum thing and see if I can find that earring." Sure enough, it was sparkling and I could see it through the plastic container. I was so close! I dug and dug and junk was flying everywhere. I was determined to get that earring! When I started getting grossed out I put on the dish gloves, dumped it, and kept looking.
Then it was gone. I looked and looked and couldn't find it.
I didn't find that earring, but I do have a renewed understanding for the mess that God helps me sort through in my life. When things really started getting nasty, I chanted a mantra to myself: "It's just our crap. It's just our crap." Because at least I knew whose dust it was. But the gunk that wasn't even God's, He willingly took on so that I could be free.
At least He found the proverbial earring, though... I'm still earring-less. Darn.