(continued from p.21)
deal with it. Or it might be that our dirt is brand-spanking new; therefore we’ve either rushed in our panic to hide it, or we have no idea what to do with it so we walk around in it. It’s possible that our dirt is a betrayal or an abandonment of someone or something. Maybe it’s a blatant rejection, or a wound that we intentionally inflicted. Our dirt can be a whole bunch of different things, but its dirt.
Accountability – Saying “Yes, I Have Dirt”
Who wants to admit that they’re dirty? More than that, who wants to admit how dirty their dirt really is? The hard truth is that some of our dirt is pathetic, putrid, rancid and raunchy. We’ve covered in some pretty reeking and outright foul stuff. Denying it doesn’t remove it, and in no way does denial sweeten it. As my father was fond of saying, “you can’t put perfume on a pig.” If we want to rid ourselves of it, we must admit to it . . . all of it.
Honesty – A Necessity for a Complete Cleaning
If we want a full cleaning, we can’t do that in isolation, although we’d like to. Cleaning is a corporate activity. If we want an iridescently deep cleaning we can only scrub out the deepest dirt with the scouring pad of a repentant attitude. That means we confess our dirt to those we harmed. We confess the wrongs, the behaviors, the choices, the attitudes, the selfishness, the intent to harm, the greed . . . we fess up and we confess it. That’s the scouring pad. Then we get on our hands and knees and we take the detergent of a repentant attitude and we clean. When we do that we will live with lightness, a vigor and a freedom that we could not have imagined. So, let’s clean!
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