Litter Happens

Funny story. The other day, my best friend and her husband were starving so we decided to go for tacos. These are no ordinary tacos, my friends. It's not Taco Bell (or Hell, as I like to say). It's Taco Cabana...aka "Taco C" or "TC". Cheap. Delicious. Open at the most crucial of times when one craves a taco. They're wonderfully seasoned and have a huge salsa bar. Bonus!
Here's the scene: my friend's husband (who is very tall and strong) and I were taking out a lot of trash. I carried a box of it, whist he carried a Glad Flex big black trash bag - you know, the ones that aren't supposed to break even if a piano is dropped in it? As we walked out of the apartment, he began dragging it on the concrete in the parking lot - which you should theoretically be able to do since it's a "Flex". He dragged and I carried. Merrily along we went. Until we heard a "rrrrippp" and consequential "sppppiilllll". We looked at each other like somebody pulled an SBD then looked behind us to see a myriad of trash sprawling across the parking lot. Contained within "Trash-Spill 2010" were: old scratched CDs, broken glass, crappy knick knacks, and other stuff. To top it all off...there was kitty litter. Used of course.

(Side bar - they have a cat. I'm not it's biggest fan. But it still exists and desecrates into a pan of gravel numerous times per day and therefore must be emptied.)

He and I groaned at the sight and I volunteered to go get a new trash bag. Running into the apartment and announcing the spill that rivaled that of the oil (joke and exaggeration) I grabbed two smalled white bags (b/c of course TODAY we ran out of the so-called "flex" bags) and my bff and I marched laughingly to the crime scene. We bent down to begin picking up the trash and I quickly realized that in order to help, I was gonna touch cat poo. Gross. I honestly stood dumbfounded for a while, not knowing what the right thing to do was. Do I help and actually touch Kitty Bear's crap? Do I stand here and make awkward jokes to make people laugh while avoiding the dirty deed? I was torn. After taking in a deep breath, I managed the gumption to get in and get dirty. (Ok, I didn't really want to, but I started grabbing stuff...and complaining about how gross it was along the way....character building doesn't happen right away.) As I cleaned, I got litter all over my right foot - wedged right in to my toes cracks. Ew. I squealed and continued getting in all over my hands and arms. Once the scene was relatively cleaned, we finally made it to the dumpster (nearly avoiding "part deux" of the fiasco with another potential bag break) and walked hurriedly back to the apartment to wash up before Taco Fest.

As I washed my hands, it hit me...in order to help people in life  or even help ourselves (perhaps even be God's hands, feet, voice, shoulder, ear, etc.), sometimes we are going to get dirty. We may even get covered in crap from time to time. There's a reason people say "s**t happens"...or in my world "LITTER HAPPENS" (they probably shouldn't be cursing...neither should I...or you). It does. It's bound to happen. Being a Christian, doing what God asks of us is not going to be met without a little litter here and there. But you follow Love and Love will wash you off. He'll even clear the little pieces from between your toes. And Love will most likely help you laugh at the litter from time to time. Even though I was most definitely not happy with cat droppings at my toes...ya gotta admit, that's freaking hilarious. I mean, even in the moment I was near peed pants because it was so ridiculous. I mean, who scrapes up litter from an apartment complex parking lot???

Moral of the story:
When you listen, litter might happen. Love will help you get cleaned up and laugh about it...only to help you love like Love itself.