This morning God used this pellet stove to deal a much needed attitude adjustment to me. The stove has been waiting silently there in the corner of our living room ever since the weather warmed up to the point we no longer needed to fire it up every morning. There it sat, waiting for me to drag the vacuum cleaner out of the closet, remove all the various firebox parts that need cleaning, suck out all the accumulated ash and soot, clean the window, and just generally get it ready for Fall days approaching. The job isn't all that difficult. I just conveniently had "other things to do" that gave me a good reason to avoid it. Besides, the stove wasn't going anywhere! I could get it cleaned whenever I wanted.
I did have the job on my to-do list, however. And, so it was that I determined this morning the stove project was my number one agenda item for the day.
Breakfast over: check. Vacuum cleaner ready: check. Brushes and probes located: check. New collector bag installed in vacuum: check. Plugged in: check. Open the stove and begin suctioning . . . ok! Here we go!
It was really a mess in there. Ugh! Black soot and grey ash swirled into the hose. I did my best trying to avoid spilling it out onto the carpet or getting it all over my hands.
Then, without warning, the Lord started with the attitude adjustment thing.
No, I wasn't grumpy about this job, and honestly, I didn't mind it all that much. That really wasn't an issue.
The problem, instead, was a tendency I have once in a while to silently criticize other people for not acting or being the way I think they aught to act or be. I don't usually even confront someone, or try to correct their ways. I just make a mental note of their deficiency and file it away in some memory box where I can visit it from time to time. Not good.
You see, we bought this pellet stove several years ago. We were very happy to see it sitting installed there in its corner, and loved the clean radiant heat pouring out of the vents. Wonderful!
As with most purchases, the stove came with complete instructions printed in the literature, and also delivered by the sales people and the installer. One of those instructions said that for best results the fire chamber should be thoroughly cleaned on a weekly basis.
Ok. I'm good with that. So every Sunday morning my first task for the week was to separate all the parts, vacuum out the week's worth of ash, clean everything spotless, and finally put it all back together so we could enjoy another week of warm comfort. And I was faithful to the task. Yes, indeed! I did it every week, and I did it right.
Then, we chanced to visit some friends who also had a pellet stove. It was winter time, the stove in their sitting room was roaring, and it was a pleasant time. We enjoyed the visit.
Except, I couldn't help but notice . . . their stove was DIRTY! And, of course, I immediately compared MY FAITHFULNESS in proper care and keeping of a pellet stove with THEIR obvious neglect.
Ah, pride, why dost thou continuously raise thine ugly head? Now, here I was, cleaning out many weeks, nay months(!) worth of dirty ashes from my own neglected stove. Hypocrite? Judgmental attitude? Not outwardly, of course. But, then, Jesus did have something to say about the Pharisees whom He called "whited sepulchers" - beautiful on the outside, but inside filled with dead men's bones.
Yes, this morning God used that pellet stove to convict me of a sinful attitude of pride and judgement.
But, He wasn't finished.
My dear Lord then proceeded to gently remind me of other incidents from my distant past. Like the fat kid in grade school I saw across the playground. I had a rock-hard belly 'cause I was a farm kid and worked hard every day, both before and after school. That kid's belly was soft and poochy. I felt nothing but disdain for him then, but didn't even think about it afterwards. Until the other day I looked at my own belly again. Uh . . . soft and poochy? Oh, Lord! Unfortunately, very much so! And once again I heard God's whisper, drawing me to repentance.
Now, I suppose someone might be tempted to say, "Really? Is that the worst you can come up with?" Unfortunately, no. But it serves God's purpose to open my heart to Him. I sincerely desire nothing more than to live with His Spirit in me. And I rejoice in these little, seemingly insignificant moments, when He speaks so gently, yet forcefully, to my spirit.
Even when I need an attitude adjustment!
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