The trash is full.
The trash is full!
The trash is full!!
The trash is full!!! Again.
This is the saying in our house these days. We’re astounded at the trash being full seemingly every day (but, probably not). It seems to grow on its own in the trash can. Maybe you’re noticing the same thing. We take it out of the container, put it in the garage until our weekend dump run, and put a new bag in the container.
Next day…full.
At first, we were surprised. Then, perplexed. Then, kind of aggravated. Then, like a mourner in a grief cycle we came around to acceptance. It’s just the way it is now.
Then.
Then, I realized how fortunate we are: Our Trash Is Full!
While COVID guidelines have us a bit more trapped than we’d like and our trash is full–it’s a good full.
A full trash can is a reminder that we’ve eaten dinner together more than we ever have as a couple of busy people. While we once went straight from a school day to a board meeting, a SAC, DRC, AD meeting, ADMIN meeting, working a basketball game, football game, volleyball game, concessions, band practice, Army work–to the restaurant or drive thru to get a quick dinner before it’s simply time to fall into bed with exhaustion, we now have a new and better way to live.
We make dinner together.
We eat together.
We’re less rushed.
Our twenty minute commute to and from work each day has now turned into a twenty minute walk each day.
Not that we didn’t do these things before–it was just less often and more rushed–we had to fit it all in. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do in life. Now, I eat better, more nutritious foods more often. I’ve learned to slow a bit instead of staying in the frantic mode of hurry, hurry, hurry after I’m home. It’s not about efficiency here; it’s about enjoyment.
But, cooking makes trash. And, it’s that trash that is my reminder that I’m spending more time with my wife. It’s a reminder that there is food in the refrigerator. Many people don’t have that luxury–and, it is sad that basic sustenance is a luxury for some. It’s a reminder that I have plenty to give to others who don’t have.
It’s a reminder that as we use the good things in the refrigerator, we have a new space to put more good things. I could fill it with Honey Buns, frozen pizzas, pre-made sugary drinks…and have a bunch of empty fast food in there (I know. Who puts Honey Buns in the fridge?). Yes, I could bring the drive-thru to my own kitchen. But, I like to put the good stuff in there. Raw ingredients that I can put together in creative ways, take joy in doing so, and become a healthier person. Nutritious things. Unprocessed things. Natural things. Things that were meant to be ingested to have my best physical life. Truly satisfying things.
It strikes me that as a “new creature in Christ” my trash was taken out for me. I now have the chance to take in the best of things: Prayer, Scripture, Thoughtfulness, Solitude…Peace. And, I continue to cast away the trash in my life–given the grace I am offered each and every day–and those things that I was meant to be filled with take the place of hurriedness, clutter, and needless time sucks. I am filled with the Truly Satisfying Thing.
I’ve also become more acutely aware, though I always have been “aware,” of the packaging things come in (it’s been a bit of a pet peeve for some time). Some of it is excessive, unneeded, obnoxious. The advertising on it is invasive. The amount seems sinful. So much of this unnecessary packaging is what fills the trash so often. I am reminded once again of the Genesis account of creation and God calling it “good.” And, how we are to be stewards of it. We are to have “dominion” over it–like a benevolent King caring for his people, not like a tyrant abusing it. My full trash can reminds me to view the majesty of the creation as a reflection of the Majesty of God, to remove the excess, the unnecessary, the obnoxious–literally and figuratively.
And spirtiually.
My full trash can is a reminder to me that I had a good few weeks of good cooking, good eats, good times spent with my wife and these few weeks culminate with our trip to the dump. It’s a date–I put on my good jeans to signal this to her–it’s another bit of time I get to spend with her. I drag out the time it takes to separate the cardboard and plastics…because I’m with her. I want this trip to last all day. It doesn’t matter if I’m literally standing in a place of refuse…I’m standing there with her.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me like your’e lost in space, or are you going to throw that cardboard in the bin?” She has a way of snapping me out of my perfect date with her. The people waiting on me to move along are grateful to her.
My trash is full. And, so am I.