White as Snow

As humans, we make plenty of messes. Just ask the small group leaders of kids camp. Just ask the clean up crew after one of our dinners. Just look in Anthony's room. Just ask yourself. How many spiritual messes do I make?

Today, we began a fix-up for Lisa. There was a good amount of things to do. There was window washing, installing new light fixtures, screening, and of course, painting. All was going well through lunch. After lunch, I installed a light switch and fixture and put up a smoke alarm. As I was testing the smoke alarm, I heard a crash and a yell from the other room. I quickly got down from the ladder and raced into the next room. Sarah was standing there with a shocked look of disbelief.

The paint can had spilled. Even though the paint was white, the situation was grimdark. About half of the paint can had missed the drop cloth and was on the carpet. Rescue teams were on the spill quickly. As we sopped up the paint, we all wondered silently if this paint would ever come up. The job looked impossible as we desperately threw more rags on top, trying to clean the mess we'd made.

With the addition of the shop-vac, the spill was eventually cleaned up relatively well and we were left with the promise that a carpet cleaning company was scheduled to come clean the carpets anyways.

As we were praying afterward, Tom had a wonderful reflection about what happened. As humans, we make many mistakes and then we believe that there is no way to clean it up. We believe that we've screwed up good this time. But, like the shop-vac, God can clean up any mess we make. As long as we ask for His help and trust in Him, nothing is impossible. Let us turn to the sacraments, especially confession, often. Then we will be made white as snow.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

-Anthony Smela