Not all poop is created equal--TMI?

My husband questions the taste level of my piece.  He knows, however, that I tend to be "real," and who am I to question how God chooses to teach me something?  So, be forewarned.  Get your pooper scooper ready.

One of my dogs had an accident.  It happens sometimes.  But I can tell which dog did it.  I can smell the poop when Chi Chi does it, but when Pancho does it, I sometimes don't notice it until I unfortunately step in it! 

I pondered this difference.  (I ponder all kinds of weird things.)  I learned that there can be a difference in poop.  You see, the longer it sits in the intestinal tract, the longer it has to ferment and putrefy in your gut, the more stinky it can be.


Well, Pancho is a Chihuahua, so pretty much anything that goes in comes out pretty quickly.  They have a fast metabolism.  He takes care of business every time we let him out.  It doesn't stay in his intestinal tract long enough to get really stinky.  Chi Chi, however, goes about once a day, therefore, it has more time to get stinky.

What does that have to do with life you might ask? (Besides showing the importance of having a good digestive system?)  I'll tell you.  Sin.

Yup, sin.  Think about it.  The longer we allow our sin to build up, unconfessed, the more it stinks.  Keeping a shorter list, not so much.

Smell is important to God.  We're supposed to smell good.  God used words like savour, aroma, etc.  You don't usually think poop when you hear words like that.

Take for instance Ezekiel 20:41 which reads, "I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen."

or how about...

II Corinthians 2:15a. "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ..."

We don't stop having a scent when we sin; the sent just changes.  Just like it says in Isaiah 3:24  "And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink..."

All this to confess that I've been stinking up my house.  I've dealing with some ongoing, health trials.  I haven't been dealing with them well.  I've been impatient, sharp, and shrewish. 

Even worse than all that, I've been failing God's commands in James.  You know, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness" (1:2-3).  I have not been "leading or commanding" my thoughts to have "calm delight" knowing that God is testing my faith so it may have "endurance and constancy."  

I definitely have not been taking control of my thoughts.  Instead, I've been allowing the pain to take control of my emotions and act the victim.  Sure, my body is kind of "under attack" from pain, but "I" don't have to be.

The joy doesn't come from the trial.  The joy comes from know and trusting that God has a plan and purpose for the trial.  His purpose isn't to break my faith but to make it stronger.

Well, I confessed and repented of the pile of poop I've been placing before God.  A shower of His grace should definitely make me more of a "sweet savour."

!Viva Chihuahua!  El no tiene caca maloliente.