Forgiveness and the Toilet

In the Gathering this morning Walter was talking about making relationships that last, and used the metaphor of building a house to drive his points into the wooden hearts of the hearers (oh gracious, a pun...how delightful).  The message was great, and I was able to reflect quite a bit on my own marriage and the foundation we've built.  There are certainly a few cracks that need mending, and it was good to pause and examine the health of our own relationship.

Probably the most vivid and poignant example Walter used to illustrate the must-haves in a marriage relationship was that of the toilet.  He compared all of the junk that we hold on to in our relationships to the...er...unmentionables we leave in the toilet.  If you have ever gone for a little while without flushing the toilet, maybe making a couple trips in the meantime, the graphic flavor of this metaphor will become quickly apparent.  Can I get a witness from the dudes in the house?  When you don't flush, the ensuing smell is capable of choking a donkey, let alone permeating an entire house.  This is like the unforgiveness in a relationship.  It poisons, sickens, decays, and stinks up the whole life of the people involved in the relationship.  Every conversation, fight, embrace is tainted with this stench of bitterness and resentment.  We were encouraged to flush the toilet.  To do the hard work of forgiving and thereby receive health, and rid our lives of the stench of death that comes when we do not forgive.  I have seen this lately, and quite dramatically, in the lives of several couples, and it is horrifying the damage that is done when we hold onto poison and neglect to flush the toilet.   

Flush the toilet people.  Jesus flushed it for you.