It was highway trash pick up day. Those
so inclined to participate met at the Krum United Methodist
Church building at 8:00 a.m. this past Saturday. Here,
we were presented with bright orange vests and large plastic
bags. Several people who had not participated before joined
us, and were quickly given instructions: leave cigarette
butts and dead animal carcasses in place. Everything else
needs to be picked up. Stick an extra bag in your belt—when
the first one gets full, leave it by the side of the road.
Then we divided into two teams, one going north on FM
156, and the other going south. We’d meet somewhere
in the middle.
Glorious weather accompanied our task.
The full moon was still high in the western sky when the
sun appeared to dissipate the early morning chill. The
cows grazed contentedly. Trains passed. Cars raced by.
We slowly worked out way through the grass, wet with morning
dew, the moisture seeping through everyone’s shoes
and socks.
Because the team was larger than usual,
especially on the south side, a second smaller team followed
the first group and was able to pick up what was missed
on the first sweep. We enjoyed some good-natured ribbing
about the first team’s lack of observational powers
as the second sweep still managed full bags of highway
trash.
Bottles, cans, cigarette packs, rags, dog
collars, gloves, plastic straws, cups and lids, pieces
of tire, rebar and chair-rail wooden trim. That was our
haul. Twenty large bags of it in one not particularly
heavily traveled two mile stretch. All of this represents
the dark side of our throw-away society. Don’t need
it; it’s just too much trouble to find a trash can
or recycle bin; just pitch it out. We do it to trash.
And we do it to people whom we find inconvenient or difficult
to love. Just toss ‘em away. Let someone else take
care of it.
I do wonder sometimes if God finds humanity
just too much trouble to bother with. We are indeed, after
all, a troublesome and rebellious people. Few really pursue
lives of intentional holiness and sacrificial love for
others. Most of us are caught in “me-ness,”
a place where our own needs take such a high priority
that the larger world almost disappears from sight. We
ask others to be responsible for our actions and our thoughtlessness
rather than living out of an integrity-filled place of
personal responsibility.
So what if God has just tossed us out of
the celestial equivalent of a car window? What would the
world be like without the constant invitation from the
Holy One to enter into a place of forgiveness and reconciliation?
What if only darkness reigned, and all light were snuffed
out? That is the description of hell. But God has not
yet rescinded the invitation to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Light beckons. The Holy One calls. May we all respond
with thankful hearts.
