A Traceable Piece of Trash

My youngest and I were at the park this morning.  He was playing contentedly, so I decided to fill up my empty bread sack with the little bit of trash I saw laying around (I'm incredibly grateful to my husband for his example in this department). I told God that each piece of trash was an offering for souls, and when my bag was nearly full, I found a ziplock baggie with someone's name written on it with black marker.  A traceable piece of trash... 

This got me to thinking that every piece of trash I picked up, has someone's name on it.  It is just written with invisible ink.  Which got me thinking...Every thing we do has our name on it.  Good and Bad.  Little and Big.  Which got me thinking...about Judgment day. 

I imagined a big mountain of all the things (actions, thoughts, and words) from my life with my name on it.  And then I imagined Jesus sorting through the heap; tossing the bad in a pile a little distance from His feet, and gathering the good to Himself.  And I'm standing there watching Him, praying that the Good pile is bigger than the Bad pile, although I'm not really sure that settles anything...  

And that's it - I can't see anything beyond the Divine sorting.  But, that makes sense to me because I'm still adding to both of them, Good and Bad... 

My vanity would love to think of all the good in my life secured with a big flag waving around with my name on it.  But, if the "Bad" flags were flown around for all to see first, I think it would crawl under a rock, never to be seen again.

So, I wonder, on Judgment day, do we see the good or the bad first?  (By the way, don't you hate, "Well, there's good news and bad news..."?!  The bad almost always overshadows the good, and I'm not sure which order you hear them in makes a bit of difference).

Anyway, I think we see the bad first.  Because if you get to go to Heaven, you don't want to show up in a bad mood.  And, I'm pretty sure if I watched the movie of my life, and the first half was awesome and the last half sucked (excuse the expression), I would be in a pretty bad mood.

Have you heard someone say, "All's well that ends well."?  I think that's about right.

At least for today, I'm going to try to remember that everything I do has eternal value, and it is accruing.  I'm either getting closer to Heaven or farther away.  The heaps of Good and Bad are growing, and they are traceable to me. 


Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the time in the park this morning.  Thank you for that brave little squirrel that was nearly eating out of my son's hand, and for that little ziplock baggie with a name scribbled on it.  Thank you for moments of reflection about Judgment day that don't suck the air out of my lungs.  Your mercy reins over Your justice.  I'm counting on that, and I Thank You.  Please help me build a mountain of Good, that no human eye can perceive.  You know that it must me be so, for it to be purely for love of You.  Otherwise, my vanity shoves in, and takes over.  I love You.  Please make me love You more and more.  Amen.