Voices in my head

Today was a beautiful, blue-sky Spring morning. Worthy of a visit to our favourite playground and park. We packed up a picnic, scooter and tricycle and headed off. On the way I dropped in to Starbucks to pick up a coffee to take to the park. I always feel a little jealous when I see someone at the park with a cup of coffee in their hand, so I thought it only fair to reciprocate.

We arrived at a crowded Herbert Park and played for a good while in their great playground. Then we took off for a scoot followed by a little picnic and even had time to feed the ducks. It was ideal.

Almost.

I say almost, because as I wondered around the swings and slides, sipping my latte and enjoying the sounds of fun, I was quite shocked to see a considerable amount of rubish strewn across the ground - and this in one of Dublin's poshest areas! A voice in my head said, 'How can people leave a mess like this?' Then I heard it say, 'Do the decent thing and clean it up yourself.'

So I began with the larger pieces of paper, whch looked like some child's homework, then moved on to the sweet wrappers and crips packets. I imagined I could hear voices saying, 'Wow. Look at this man. He must be a Christian, for behold his attitude of graciousness. See how he inspires us to acts of humble service for the betterment of the community!'

As I progressed to picking up the remaining trash I noticed that no one had actually joined me in my mission. On my last stretch I bent over to pick up some tissues only to discover that this wasn't what I was aiming for. But it was too late. I had made the commitment in my movement to pick it up. I couldn't let Jesus down now. What kind of witness would I be? I had to follow through.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was not a tissue from some snotty-nosed toddler. I could have dealt with that much better. No, this was a used breast pad from some lactating mother.

It was then that I thought I heard the voices in my head saying, 'And that is why we were quite happy to leave the rubish where it was.'