Misplaced Refuse

So here we are with two bins of fresh composting.  No dirt to access this Spring from my own backyard.  Time to rely on someone else for good dirt.

That happens sometimes, doesn’t it?

We put our “garbage” in the wrong place.  We empty our refuse onto the wrong person or the wrong cause or idea; what have you.  It is misplaced garbage.  It slows down our ability to be useful, or the ability of another to be useful. It sucks out our joy.   Maybe it is a meeting that gets off topic because of weak facilitating, or a relationship that gets bogged down because of someone else’s history…but it happens, and happens often. The hardest thing for any of us to separate ourselves from our own garbage all of the time.  We bring the refuse of the past to the present and we allow it to inform us in our daily life.

I had a conversation yesterday with two wonderful people who had been the recipients of “misplaced refuse”.  Things were said to them and about them that were untrue, unkind and unnecessary. It was just “easier” for the people involved to dump on them.

They reminded me of my compost bins.  Someone came along and dumped garbage into them. But underneath that, as the sun shines on them there is beautiful new dirt taking form. They are already in the process of forgiveness and acceptance, they are not interested in retaliation.  They are only interested in justice, because justice bears fruit.   My role, or the role of any one who loves, is to help them turn it over…so it just doesn’t lay there but so it can be transformed. Love can do that.  They have strong faith and they know Who to rely on.