"You are a garbage truck."

Here's a post from my Myspace blog that I just felt like sharing:

Thursday, May 08, 2008
So, I was talking with some friends last week, which is something I like to do.
Let's just say it was more like venting to the 3rd degree. Maybe even 4th or 5th.
Then, my friend Tamara says one of the most profound things I've ever heard, let alone coming from a 14 year old.
"Kimi, you are a garbage truck."
I make a face and say "Thanks Tamara. You could have just told me I smell bad."
She continues: "Wait, let me finish" as we are all cracking up.
"People in life are one of two things. They are either a garbage can, or a garbage truck. People get filled up with all sorts of trash, and they have to get rid of it. So they put themselves out by the curb and wait for the garbage truck to come by and let them empty all their trash into it. The garbage truck then proceeds to let itself get filled up with trash so it can take it all away."
"To the landfill, right?", I answer (still with a somewhat sarcastic tone).
"No, of course not. To the incinerator. God is the incinerator. He doesn't just let all of our pain and trash stockpile. He burns it all up until it doesn't even exist anymore. Until it is nothing but ash. He then promises to make beauty from our ashes."*
"Wow."
"Kimi, you've been trying too long to just be a garbage can. You were designed to be a garbage truck. You are letting all this trash get dumped in you, and you are keeping it. You're not taking it anywhere. When you do try to take it, you can't, because you are so full that you can't even move anymore. You can't even function as you were meant to. Stop trying to be a garbage can when you are meant to be a garbage truck..."

I don't know who of you reading this can relate to this little story, but for those of you who can, I'm talking to you. Really, God is talking to you through this illustration that has quite literally changed my life.
It's a known fact that life gives us all sorts of trash, whatever that may be in your life. Frustration, pain, abuse, loneliness... this list goes on and on, and it could be anything. We keep all this inside of us. We try to get rid of it, or hide it or mask it, or try to convince ourselves it will just go way, but it doesn't. All the things we do to try to mask our trash just fills us up with even more. We overflow. People start to see the trash we've been trying to hide. So, we finally take ourselves out to the curb, and trust someone enough to dump our trash into them. It's what they are there for. They want to do it because they care.
Now a garbage truck will realize that is not only its job, it's their purpose. They were created to take away trash. To bear a burden. They were not created to keep it. Their purpose to to take the trash from one location to another. Too many times garbage trucks try to keep the trash all to themselves because they don't want to burden anyone else, they don't want anyone to think they are weak and can't handle the load. They don't want to admit that there is a problem. There is a problem with keeping trash. It starts to stink. It mutates. It stockpiles. It overtakes your entire life. You can't think straight, you can't go anywhere or do anything because this stinking pile of trash is all you see, it's all you can think about. You never took it to the incinerator, which is where it truly belongs. You haven't gone to the final location.
God wants our trash. He wants to burn it up so it can stop hurting us. He wants us to breathe easier and see clearer and feel the hope of cleanliness. He knows that we are going to keep getting filled, and that's why He wants us to keep coming to Him to dump it all out. To cast our cares upon Him.
So whether you are a garbage can or a garbage truck, realize your purpose.
If you have no one to dump your stresses into, find someone you can trust. Find someone who cares for you and wants to help you and wants to help you get rid of all your trash. Make sure they are someone who will take it all to God and not keep it themselves.
If you have people confiding in you, if people seem to constantly come to you, and you feel overwhelmed, don't forget to take it all to the ultimate location: God. Give it all to him. Not just your worries and concerns and problems, but others' as well. He wants to take it ALL away and relieve you of all your burdens.
God loves garbage cans and garbage trucks equally. When you find out which one you are, be proud of it, and don't forget to go to God.


*Isaiah 61:1-4

I Peter 5:6-8
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Psalm 55:22
Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.