Men's Room Cleaning Insights

A few teased me for how long it took me to clean the toilets and everything else in the main men's room in our new building over the weekend. I defended myself poorly by recounting the fact that construction workers have been using (and not really cleaning) this men's room for months. Also, those stickers on new toilets, urinals, and sinks can be a bear to remove. Anyway, here are some profound insights for life derived from my "leisurely" cleaning of the men's room in the new building.

1) The smallest thing, dust, can present the biggest problem. This is how it is throughout life. The small things, especially the really small things, hog up all our time and energy. There was dust everywhere. It was on every surface. The bathroom will need another cleaning next week to get it ready for Easter because there will be more dust. There is always more dust. Small stuff happens. We can decide not to "sweat the small stuff," but we still have to deal with it and there is sometimes a high cost in dealing with it.

2) The nasty mess inside each of the toilet bowls was the easiest thing to clean. Harsh chemicals, blue and fresh smelling, combined with a simple, sturdy brush, tidied things up quickly. One possible reason I was alone in my cleaning project was how scary and disgusting these bowls seemed. Life is like this too. The problems that look big are often no problem at all.

3) Sometimes we're asked to sacrifice control for convenience. This bathroom has automatic sinks. You just put your hands under them and they pour forth luke warm water. This is fine unless you're trying to clean the sink! It was quite of battle of wits between me and the little invisible hand-detecting eyeballs hiding out there somewhere under each faucet! I learned to trick them by quick motions. I felt a little like Neo from the Matrix. I'm just glad those guys who timed my cleaning efforts weren't there to watch this. I would never hear the end of it. Is convenience worth the control we sacrifice for it?

Aren't you glad I wrote about this here instead of using it in a sermon? Can you see the PowerPoint pictures of toilets and brushes? Probably not, eh? Perhaps the final insight here is that we can learn from anything on any day.

Seasons

It is difficult to write about some things in a given platform. Were I to write about what I've been thinking lately, I suspect this tiny blog, because it is public, despite the fact that it is seldom read, would not be the appropriate place. I had a formal conversation with a respected colleague today who knows me well and knows well the details of various situations I find myself in as a church pastor. She diagnosed me as someone in transition. She did not intend for me to experience her reflections as a diagnosis. I offered the visual of a river with a slow but constant current. The current is sometimes too slow; other times it is too fast. These perceived speed differences are unrelated to the actual current. They are the result of unsteady emotions. Such emotions accompany real change. The change is the steady current. I admit that I'm in the midst of real change. I'm moving down a new river. Things that once interested me no longer do. The flames that once lit certain goals now only exist in my memories. What I once craved as success was only the idea of success. A woman last night at a church function spoke about the increased use of our new building this Easter and beyond and chirped, "Pastor John, your dream is coming true." I too quickly and too firmly retorted, "This is not my dream!" She didn't understand. I hastily buried my rude clarity under pillows of fuzz and niceness. But the truth remains: despite good ministry and a fine new building, there is nothing associated with the work God has called me to as a pastor that presently falls under the category of "dream." This is new for me and challenging, but more challenging is any attempt I've made to explain it to my wife, myself, and even God. Is this how a called person, with many of life's direction questions cancelled by vows, experiences mid-life crisis or "half-time?" As always, I find Scripture verses anchor my wavering mind. Ecclesiastes 3:1 is one of a handful of verses that talks about a season. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." There's also a verse I'm preaching this weekend. 2nd Timothy 4:2 commands me to "preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction." No two seasons are the same. One season does little to prepare us for the next. Slowly the current of time pulls us out of one and into another. There's nothing anyone can do to stop this.

Yet I look forward to spring. Maybe I have a dream about spring. Thank God for spring.