I’m losing my “window of opportunity” to transplant ferns. As April is advancing, the new little fern fronds are beginning to appear at the base of the plants. I’ve only got about one more week left, then the “window of opportunity” will be gone.
So I headed out into the forest this past week to transplant ferns.
It was raining. Of course.
I was out working in the forest from 8am until 2pm, and it rained on me the entire time. Thankfully my garden coat is fantastic at covering and protecting me. My garden coat kept me perfectly dry … but on the outside, my garden coat was quite wet. Add to that, I was down in the dirt the entire time, digging up ferns … then down in the dirt re-planting all the ferns I had just dug up and divided.
At the end of it all, my garden coat was very muddy! My jeans were very muddy! My garden clogs were very muddy!
My garden coat and jeans would need to be washed after this … but I couldn’t very well put them in the washer in this condition.
So I headed over to the garden spigot and proceeded to put myself (garden coat, jeans, and all) underneath the blast of water shooting out! That did the trick at getting the worst of the mud off.
Then into the washer my garden coat and jeans went.
My washer is very keen on self-maintenance. Hence whenever I run an extra-dirty load of laundry, it is not too long afterwards that my washer suddenly decides it needs a “Self-Clean” cycle!
This occurred yesterday. I had several loads of laundry I needed to do yesterday morning. But after the first load, the washer suddenly decided it needed a “Self-Clean” cycle.
After the first load finished, the washer automatically selected “Self-Clean” and proceeded to tell me that I needed to simply close the door and press “Go” to “Self-Clean.”
What if I don’t want to press “Go” and have it automatically “Self-Clean”?!? As you can see in the background photo, the “Self-Clean” cycle is 3 hrs. 52 min.
That is a crazy long amount of time for a “Self-Clean” cycle. That is totally inconvenient! I have lots of stuff I need to do. I have other loads of laundry I need to run. And I’m expected to just stop it all to let the washer have a “Self-Clean” cycle!?!
Of course I could have over-ridden the washer’s recommendation, and continued doing my other loads of laundry anyway. But I knew the washer probably truly did need a “Self-Clean” cycle. I had just run a very soiled, muddy load a few days prior.
If I didn’t allow the washer to “Self-Clean” it would comprise the “health” of the washer … and potentially cause mechanical problems later on down the road.
So, I paused all of “my” plans … and allowed the washer to have some of its own “Self-Clean” time.
The past two days the blog posts have been about how life is messy. If we genuinely care about other people and pour ourselves out to love on other people … it will be messy!
In the process we will find ourselves, at time, feeling “knocked down … in the mud … in the rain.”
If we truly love like Jesus, we will get “dirty” and “muddy.”
Just like I can’t continually run my muddy garden clothes through the washer, endlessly … and repeatedly … so also, we can’t continually, endlessly, and repeatedly deal with all the “messiness” and all the “mud” as we love on others. If we don’t take time for a “Self-Clean” cycle … we will, over time, compromise our own mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
But it’s inconvenient! … it’s inconvenient to take a “Self-Clean” cycle for our own well-being. It takes time we don’t have. There are so many other important things which need to be done. Everyone is depending on us! Everyone wants a piece of us! We can’t take the time off for a “Self-Clean” cycle.
If you don’t take the time for a personal “Self-Clean” cycle, you will break, later on down the road. You will break … if you don’t take the time for a personal “Self-Clean” cycle.
Life is messy! People are messy! God has called us to love on people … to get down in the dirt and in the mud and love on people!
But we must keep in mind that we can only do this as we regularly take time for a periodic personal “Self-Clean” cycle.
