BIG mess... BIG sweep

"And this mess is so big 
And so deep and so tall, 
We cannot pick it up. 
There is no way at all!" 
- Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat)

They meant to give me a gift.  They meant to clean the house all by themselves.  But at some point, as the cloud of dust settled into uncomfortable piles of filth, my well-meaning  little cleaners felt overwhelmed by the enormity (impossibility?) of the task, and disappeared. They left the mess for someone else to clean up.  Someone more able, someone bigger than themselves, someone gracious enough to dig into and remove their heaps of grime.

I grumbled as I beheld the chaos they created.  Why did they have to dig deep into forgotten corners, move furniture that was effectively hiding the unseen, roll back rugs covering dead things?  Surface cleaning would have been sufficient.  We would have looked clean to the world and no-one would have known what lurked in our dark holes…

But since the stains were now exposed, I took the broom and started sweeping.

I swept forgotten stuff; I swept real things, yet almost unrecognizable for being hidden for so long; I swept things long dead, but never eliminated; I swept fresh crumbs.

And as I swept, the Light illuminated specks of dust everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.

And I felt overwhelmed by all that came out of my dark, hidden holes.

And I felt overwhelmed by the impossibility of self-cleansing.

And I felt sure that surface cleaning removed even less than I had hoped.

And I longed for someone else to clean up my mess.

And I yearned for Someone more fully able,

     Someone bigger than myself

                Someone gracious enough

                            to dig into

      and remove

             my heaps of grime.

And Someone came.  He ached for what He beheld. Yet He washed. He cleaned. He beautified. He loved.  He gave.  He paid.  And when He said: "It is finished", my grime was on Him.  And He took it... to decompose in an empty grave.  

He bowed down low and bent His head
For to sweep the Lord’s house clean...

"Yes I’ve come to wash and clean
From this floor, the stains of sin
Sweep high, sweep low
Sweeping clean as I go."

I bowed down low and bent my head
for the King did sweep and  now I'm clean...

adapted from

Bow Down Low

(an old Shaker song)

Happy Easter to all!