Cleaning up Messes

But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him. – Luke 22:51

In the context of this verse, Peter had made a mess. When they tried to take Jesus away, Peter went all Conan the Barbarian and sliced one of the soldier’s ears off. Jesus quickly rebuked him and then proceeded to heal the man. I’ve read before where Jesus was actually destroying evidence on Peter’s behalf. Had the wound remained, Peter would have been executed.

My daughter likes to bake. The Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship has only made it worse. Her mom and I are constantly tasting her creations. We only cringe when she heads to the kitchen because of one thing . . . the mess she is going to make. She knows it is coming from one of us every time, “Clean up your mess.”

This past Sunday morning I got up and ready to go to church. I had about 30 minutes to go before everyone else would be ready. I walked into the kitchen, and sure enough, it was my daughter’s mess from baking the night before. At first, I was aggravated and about to tell her that this would be cleaned up as soon as we got home from church. Instead, I just put on some praise and worship music, and cleaned up. She didn’t notice, didn’t say, “thank you,” nothing. And you know what?

That is completely okay with me.

As I was contemplating what to write this week, that mess came to mind. I sit here and wonder just how many messes God has cleaned up for me as I’ve walked through this life. Messes that I didn’t realize that I made and messes that I’ve completely forgotten about. How many times has He intervened on my behalf and I never even said, “thanks.”

Today I’m giving Him “back-thanks.” He has been so good to me it is absolutely ridiculous.

Later

Adam