How to Take Out the Trash

One thing we all have in common is trash. We dispose of a lot of over the course of our lives. Just check any landfill. Fun random fact: the fashion industry is the number two most wasteful industry in the WORLD. Think about that next time you reach for your Michael Kors purse or your Burberry scarf. And we do reach for them, don’t we?

Who takes out the trash at your house? Who mows your lawn? Who balances the checkbook? These,’and a million other tiny things were done by my late husband. These were things I never worried about. They were taken for granted. On trash day, Greg hauled the garbage off to the dump (we lived in the county and didn’t have garbage pickup). On Saturday, Greg mowed the lawn.  Greg was the finance manager at our house. These were things Greg did every week that I never gave a single thought. 

About a week adter he died, I was sitting in my living room, and I could smell the garbage. My first thought was, “Wow. Greg needs to take out that garbage.” Then, it hit me—he was never taking out the garbage again. It was now my job to wrangle the smelly bags of garbage outside to the garbage cans. So, ok, I did that. Then the second thing hit me—I would haul have to haul that junk off to the dump. By myself. i cried that day. 

That day, I realized something—there were lots of things I was going to have to do myself.  My neighbor mowed my lawn for me that week without me asking, but what was I going to do for the rest of my life? I could handle the riding lawnmower, but the weed eater and me had a toxic relationship, and I broke up with it years ago. As for the finances, my extent of knowledge on that was using my debit card for purchases over $20. I had no idea how much money we had in the bank, nor the status of the accounts because Greg was pretty bossy about it, actually. 

I learned how to take off the trash. I found someone who would come take it off for a small fee and that was a HAPPY day at the Jackson household. I mowed the yard myself and a friend recommended a yard service for me. They mowed my yard until I moved to my condo. I dusted off my math skills (which were never none too good), went to the bank and had them help me figure out what the heck was going on with the account.  There were several surprises, but I managed to survive. 

In my daily life, I still take out my trash, mentally and spiritually speaking. Trash still attempts to overrun my spirit, and it will if I let it. But unlike learning how to do these things without Greg, I have have spiritual help in the form of Jesus. He helps me bag up my garbage and haul it away and never complains about doing so. He never says it smells. He just gets in there with me and leads me where I need to go. 

Whats your garbage? What’s holding  you back from moving forward? For me, it was many things I had to leave behind, and one of which was Greg. I had to leave behind the desire for  what night have been. I had to turn my back on the temptation to sit and waste away to nothing.  I had to leave some really unpleasant thoughts in the dust and not pick them up again. 

What has been your experience, fellow widows? Please leave a comment, if you feel up to it.  God has a way of getting our attention. And today, He got my attention with trash. Do I create more or do I just haul off what I already have? I don’t want to be like the fashion industry, burning clothes, filling already overflowing landfills with more “dead stock.” No, my disposal system needs to be permanent and clean. Clean for me and clean for others.  We are comforted so we can comfort others. I know I am not the only woman in the world who has been widowed. But sometimes it feels that way. When a brother or sister in Christ takes that moment to comfort me, or I take that moment to comfort them, that’s Christianity in action. And in action at its finest.  That’s helping others take out their reach. 

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