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Clean the Yard and Cleanse the Heart

One day, as the dark clouds rolled in covering the sky and the fog filled the Atlanta air, it reminded me of the autumn season.  Yet there were no yellow leaves falling from the trees and the road was not covered with dark brown leaves.  In that moment, I relived the days when I had to sweep the autumn leaves in my yard.  Every morning, I had to clean the yard for my children to play.  As I was sweeping the leaves, I noticed that my neighbor was training his son to mow the lawn.  I was moved by the son’s willingness to listen and follow exactly his father’s instructions.  I learned that the boy was about the same age as my twin girls.  I thought I should teach my twin girls to clean the yard—a task that was surely not difficult.  I called my ten years old girls to show them how the boy next door was mowing the lawn without having an attitude.  “Do you think you can help me clean the yard every day?  Do you think this task is too difficult for you?”, I asked them.  One of them willingly accepted the task while the other reluctantly agreed for she could not come up with any excuses. 

About two or three days later, one of my twin girls asked me:  “Mommy, why do we have to clean the yard every day?  The leaves continue falling to the ground right after we have cleaned the yard, and then we have to clean it again.  Why can’t we wait to clean them after all the leaves have fallen from the trees?”  I did not know if these questions were born out of my girl’s growing mind, or her laziness, or both.  However, at first glance, these questions sound quite logical.  I contemplated for few minutes before responding to my daughter.  I said, “You know, when there are few leaves on the ground, cleaning the yard is such an easy job.  However, if you wait until there is a big pile of leaves, then cleaning the yard becomes so hard a task.  It becomes even much harder when the Atlanta rain comes making the leaves wet, sticky, and heavier—even dirtier.  Trust me, it will be much harder to clean the yard in that condition.”

At that moment, God reminded me of my sins.  If we do not receive daily God’s instructions, are not transformed by His words, and do not maintain a close relationship with God, then our sins will accumulated into piles that will choke the line of our communication with God (Psalm 51.)  As human being, we were born in sin (Ps 51.5).  Fighting against sin becomes our daily struggle.  We certainly do not wish God to remonstrate us in the same way He did to Cain:  “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4.7).  If we rely on God’s power to rule over sin, then He will give us “a pure heart...and a steadfast spirit.” (Psalm 51.10).

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

(Psalm 51.17)

Thảo Nguyên

(Translated by Việt Đào)