Bristles

This morning, after finishing my breakfast, I went to the sink to rinse my dishes. I put the plate under the water and began to run the kitchen brush around the plate. We use the kitchen brush, which usually stays behind the sink, to scrub the dishes before they get washed. The brush has a handle and bundles of bristles stuck into the head of the brush, seven rows wide by eight rows deep. Each of the fifty-six bundles has about twenty-five individual bristles in it. (Yes, I counted them!) The outside bunches are a bit worn in places.

The bunches are placed rather close together to guarantee a good solid brushing, but there are still empty places in between the bunches of bristles.

The usual practice is to rinse the dishes and then set them aside until they get washed. After I had gone around a couple of swishes, I saw an earwig crawling across what I was rinsing. I had not seen it when I picked up the brush or the plate.

I had not noticed it when I started rinsing the dishes.

But it came out and made itself known to me. I wondered how many nasty things I have hidden in my nice Christian lady “bristle brush.” I have my church membership bunch. There is also my devoted wife bunch, my tithe bunch, my faithful church-attendance bunch, and my teacher bunch. But I also have some bunches that are a little worn.

One of them is my patience bunch. It can show up when I am really stressed because I sometimes forget to let Jesus be in charge. Another one is my self-sacrificing bunch because sometimes I do not want to give up my wants and desires to yield to someone else, so I get a little worn down trying to “be nice,” as I know a child of God ought to be.

But what concerns me is the thought of what I might have hidden deep in my “good” bunches of bristles. Is it so well hidden that most will never see it? Have I hidden it in my heart rather than hiding God’s Word? All the undesirable feelings, thoughts, and actions were washed away when I was baptized, and if I want them to stay gone, I need to keep God’s Word hidden in my heart. Do you have any “earwigs” hiding in your bristle brush?

Summer Stahl