Out of the Depths

I'll bet I've washed that dish a million times! My kitchen sink seems like a hole that I keep falling into and I can't escape from. I wonder how many spoons and forks I've washed in the last ten years? And the laundry basket. It's perpetually full! I'll bet I could go to the dryer anytime, day or night, and find at least ten ragged towels, six wrinkled shirts, and twenty-three socks, five of which have no mate. Who cares?

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1-2)

Am I in the depths? Is this utter despair? I don't think so, but it is definitely uncomfortable. I'm having the blahs.

Out of my blahs I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice; Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

That's my translation! Sometimes I have trouble relating to the trials and tragedies that drove God's people of the Old Testament to cry to him for deliverance. The make my own trials seem unimportant in comparison. But today I think God is telling to to stop comparing and to realize that the depressions and setbacks I experience are just as important to him as the conflicts and moral dilemmas faced by people in the Bible times. They were is children, and he heard their voices and led them out of the depths. I also am his child, and he hears my voice and will lead me out of my depths. Go dis as eager to hear my pleas as he was to hear theirs.

My Lord cares! He cares when I feel like a failure. He cares when I feel as if all my education and training have led me to nothing but a sinkful of dishes. I think he smiles when I mop up spilled milk at each meal. I think he smiles when he hears a resounding "Yuck" in response to a new recipie I tried. He smiles and give me gentle words of encouragement.
- Janice Kempe

How fitting for a day of house work at the Gibson residence.