The Crumbs in Life

Have you ever seen the movie “Turner and Hooch?” There’s a hilarious scene where Tom Hanks and his partner are in the car together and his partner reaches for a freshly baked muffin to eat. As his partner is eating, crumbs are falling all over the place. So Tom Hanks reaches for a handheld vacuum and starts vacuuming his partner while he eats. I laugh every time I see it. However, I didn’t know there were actually people like that until I witnessed it myself.

One night my mom requested a piece of pound cake to snack on. She has a real sweet tooth. I keep sweets in the house most of the time for that very reason. Of course, then I end up snacking on them as well, but that’s a whole other story.

I gave my mom a big slice of pound cake and she was sitting on the couch, eating and watching TV as happy as a clam. I was working on my computer when suddenly I hear this loud roaring sound. I looked up to see my sister, Robbie with a handheld vacuum. She was standing right beside Mom and each time Mom took a bite of pound cake Robbie would run the vacuum all over her, picking up all of the crumbs before they ever had a chance to hit the couch. Mom was a bit startled at first, but then seemed to not notice after a few minutes. I just stared in amazement. It was just like the scene out of “Turner and Hooch.”

The eating and vacuuming routine went on until Mom had finished her pound cake and Robbie quickly grabbed the napkin and disposed of all of the evidence. It was like Mom had never eaten the cake. All of the crumbs were completely gone.

I have to admit Robbie is a bit of a neat freak when it comes to cleaning, etc. but I never realized just how much of a neat freak she was until that moment. It was an eye-opener to say the least.

The truth is life is messy. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to keep our life nice and tidy, we still end up with crumbs all around us. Life is never perfect, but we still try our best to make it as near perfect as possible, or at least as close to the picture of perfect we have in our mind. But we can run ourselves ragged by trying to make our life perfect. Too often we worry, stress and even collapse over life’s imperfections.  Yet there is a way out of our messy lives. 

Romans 3:24 tells us, “God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ.”

Life may be messy sometimes, but through Christ we can successfully walk through life’s crumbs and imperfections. God is in the details of our lives. Trust Him to guide you through the messes and the chaos.

Psalms 9:7 – “God holds the high center, He sees and sets the world’s mess right.”

Leave the crumb removal to God and get on with your life. Even with all of its imperfections, life can be wonderful and exciting. Don’t get bogged down in the crumbs. I’m not saying you should take no responsibility for the consequences of your actions. Do your part to be all that God would have you be. Be obedient, kind and loving. Pray for wisdom and weigh your decisions, whether big or small. But don’t get off track by stopping to focus on the crumbs along the way. Make sure to keep moving forward. Trust God to do the vacuuming along the way.