A Dirty Lesson

Within the last six months, both of my children have damaged their phones beyond repair. The last time we endured the pain of going into our phone carrier's business, we caved in and bought the insurance. The kids understood that if they damaged their phone, they’d have to pay the deductible to replace it. After taking some time to save up the necessary money, two new replacement phones arrived at our home last week.Already disgusted at the amount of money these little devices consume, I also recollected that just this past fall I had to replace our chargers. I purposefully bought color-coded ones, so no one could claim innocence when a cord was swiped.Not long after that, the hunt for a working cord (yes – aside from being lost, they also break) led me to the original box from one of the ones I’d purchased. On the back, it mentioned a limited warranty. "Perfect!" I thought to myself. “I'm going to send it back in and see if they’ll replace the latest malfunctioning cord.” But I remembered I’d thrown out the receipt a couple of days earlier.Suddenly, all the pieces came together. My one chance to salvage some cash out of this money pit had been tossed away two days before while cleaning out my purse at church. Ugh. I wondered what the chances were of that garbage bag still being there forty-eight hours later. (Have I told you I'm frugal?!!) "Nah, it’s too late,” I told myself.Twenty-four hours later, I happened to be back at Highpoint. As I walked past the trash can, the thought of that receipt returned. I circled back. Literally, as I was staring into the dark black hole of the trash can, both Frank and Leon (two amazing servants who help take care of our facility) walked out of the cafeteria and caught me gazing at the trash.At this point, I was feeling pretty stupid. Am I really so thrifty that I’d dive into the trash for a receipt? Can I even admit it to these sweet men? I had nothing to lose, so I asked, "Do you think this bag has been changed since Monday?"The answer was no! Leon said that he had a pair of gloves and would be happy to look for me. Seriously? I wouldn’t even think of it! My stupidity was enough for me to deserve to do the looking, not him. He graciously found a new trash bag so I could transfer stuff from the old one into a new bag while I hunted.Would you believe it? The third thing I touched was the receipt I’d considered a lost cause!I walked away elated. First, I found the receipt. Second, I couldn't help but smile and think that even in the most minuscule of situations, God provided someone to help me. And I’d almost given up on the quest. Little did I know that it would actually be easy. Certainly, there are things that we put off in our life that end up being more complicated than we anticipated. But what do we avoid because we assume the worst instead of asking for the best?Where are you wasting energy worrying about something instead of just attacking the problem? Are you beating yourself up for your stupidity? Redirect the energy to be used for good.Big or small, clean or dirty… God cares. What do you need to tackle? twitter | facebook