©Growing up, from the time I was 9 and my sister was 11, washing the dishes along with a host of other household duties were placed into our little hands. Although we have 4 older brothers, for over 9 years we rotated on dish duty; if she had Monday, that meant that I had Tuesday and she had Wednesday and on and on it went. If either of us was hanging out with friends at a ballgame or a party and missed our dish day, the other one intuitively knew to pick up the slack. We kept this routine all the way up until we both left home for college in the summer of 1986. While we shared most of the household duties, two of them belonged to me and me alone; locking up the house at night…and putting out the trash. It’s what my father came to expect me to do. I can still hear his voice saying, “Lock it up for the night…but don’t forget to put that trash out.” I never forgot to lock it up for the night but on a couple of occasions I did forget to put that trash out…and it wasn’t a good thing. Waking up in a small, frame house like ours with trash cans filled with food and waste from the day before got the new day off to a sour start… Now that I am off on my own I still keep that same routine. Before heading off to bed, I walk around to each of the doors and make sure they are locked up for the night…but only after I have put the trash out. I do this with my home but I also do it with my mind. I clear my mind of all the negative things, the trash if you will, that happened throughout the course of the day…Because what I have found is that if you allow the trash from the day stick around while you sleep…your new day, the one that holds so many wonderful things will instead, turn sour… *** Friend, don’t hold onto that confrontation you had on the job today…PUT THAT TRASH OUT! Brother, don’t keep thinking about that person who cut you off on the way home…PUT THAT TRASH OUT! Sister, stop worrying about that he or that she that was so rude in the market today…PUT THAT TRASH OUT! Single mother don’t worry about how you’ll make a way…PUT THAT TRASH OUT…because GOD’S already made a WAY! Quit kicking yourselves over not making it to the gym today, you’ll get there tomorrow but for tonight…PUT THAT TRASH OUT! That’s right friend before you go to sleep, before you “lock it up” if you will, tonight and every night from this point forward… PUT THAT TRASH OUT…it’s what your FATHER expects you to do!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 02:29:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015