The huge green garbage truck was coming down the street right on schedule.  As the truck slowed to a stop, the worker jumped off and easily threw my garbage into the truck’s giant open bin. My garbage is gone! It can’t be retrieved. “Can I really rid myself of my mental garbage as easily as that? “Can I rid myself of the “big grudge”? Can I really walk away from old war wounds? And the Great Betrayal?

Today was garbage pick-up day. The day we get rid of all the garbage that has been bagged for three days. Nasty stuff that has been sitting in the garbage can. It’s always a good feeling to get rid of the bags of smelly, dead food.

As I was taking the bag of garbage to our curbside I thought that it would be wonderful to be able to “bag up” all my bad memories. The lists of bad memories that are saved in my brain….nasty fights, slights, hurts, and especially betrayal. They have been there too long like old, rotten garbage. These rotten, smelly memories need to go out along with the trash.

The huge green garbage truck was coming down the street right on schedule.  As the truck slowed to a stop, the worker jumped off and easily threw my garbage into the truck’s giant open bin. My garbage is gone! It can’t be retrieved. “Can I really rid myself of my mental garbage as easily as that? “Can I rid myself of the “big grudge”? Can I really walk away from old war wounds? And the Great Betrayal?

As I thought again of my own self-inflected burdens, a picture came into my mind. It was a picture of an empty cross on a hill. Standing at the foot of the cross was “Christian” from Pilgrim’s Progress. His huge backpack full of his burdens was falling off his back as he stood there at the Cross. My burdens should be destroyed like the morning garbage. They need to tumble off my back after all these years and dropped at the foot of the “Cross.”

Nasty Disagreements and Fights

I grew up in a family of eight children. We were not the Von Trapp family or the Waltons. When you have eight different personalities in a small house you will have at least one or two clashes a week. My sister, Catherine, was the oldest and I was born right smack in the middle of six boys.  Tony, Jimmy, and Richard were my three older brothers; Jonny, Charlie, and Mike were the three younger ones.  But of the six boys, Jimmy wanted to be the boss of me.  Because of that, we had many disagreements and fights. I never got over Jimmy being mean to me.  But now my memories of Jimmy’s mean spirit and bossy ways are lying heavy on my heart. Can they be thrown out of my heart like I threw out the garbage?

The Savoring of Slights and Hurts

I’ve worked in Christian schools and churches most of my adult life. I found working with other Christians can be disappointing. Politics sometimes reign in the Christian workplace. Things can be taken wrong and feelings can be hurt. Egos can get bruised over unimportant issues. These painful misunderstandings always hurt.  Can my list of “slights and hurts” rumble away inside the belly of a garbage truck on its way to the giant trash pile to be dumped for the rats?

The Betrayal

I had a best friend. She was a friend with whom I laughed and cried. A friend with whom I shared my hopes and dreams and even my fears. Our friendship started in our teens and lasted for years. But then something happened when I was thirty-two years old. Something devastating and unforgivable. My friend hurt me deeply with a betrayal. She had told another person a secret I had entrusted her with.  My reaction was disbelief, hurt, and then anger. I thought I could never trust my best friend again. The death of my trust was the death of our friendship. It couldn’t be resuscitated.

Enters the Power of God’s Word

Recently, when I read again Philippians 4:8  the Holy Spirit convicted me to think on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report. I had been accentuating the bad times and forgetting the good times. God’s Word tells us to look for the good.  I started thinking of my brother, Jimmy, in a new light.  Looking for the good caused me to remember when Jimmy would take me to the movies when no one else wanted to. I thought of how Jimmy and I would go to our neighborhood woods and spend hours together building forts out of fallen branches. We even built a bridge of rocks across the small stream. We worked well together and laughed a lot. The petty disagreements and fights and mean name calling is gone…dumped and incinerated like the load on the green garbage truck.

When I thought of my working with fellow Christians in schools and churches, I pondered the good that was there: the prayer meetings, the Bible studies, and the hundreds of fun times of working together for the Lord. While meditating on the good I discovered, to my delight, that there were more good times than bad.

At the Holy Spirit’s prompting I visited my best friend of years ago. My prayer was to make amends for the lost years. We had a good time reminiscing about our friendship. She again apologized for betraying my secret. She said that had she known that the betrayal would cost our friendship, it would not have ever happened.  As I looked at my old friend, a still, small voice spoke to me and said, “Have I not forgiven you?” Those powerful words pierced my heart. Who was I to not forgive when God has forgiven me! I smiled at my friend, and said, “We have lost too many years. From this day forward may we always be friends.” We spent the rest of the afternoon remembering good stuff, tough stuff and funny stuff! The burden of past years was lifted from our hearts!

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:23

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.” Philippines 4:8

Miriam Gautier is a member of Treasure Coast Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Stuart, Fla.