Do you smell that?

By Emily Bansuelo

Do you smell like cat poop? Because sometimes I do. I don't know if you've noticed, but cat poop smells really bad and it even has bacteria that grows on it I think. I had a friend growing up who never cleaned her cats litter box so her room always smelled like cat poop. I think she stopped noticing it after a while, because it never seemed to bother her. It makes me wonder how many cat owners walk around smelling like feces without knowing it, because once you get used to a smell you stop smelling it.  And while I loved my friend dearly, her room really stunk. 

I had an epiphany a couple weeks ago, pertaining to cat poop after I had cleaned my cat's litter box. I wasn't even thinking about cat poop, but about my small group at church and I wanted a good illustration for describing our acceptance in Christ. I'm a junior high pastor so anything pertaining to poop really sticks in middle schooler’s minds, I've noticed, (no gross pun intended... well kinda) and it hit me! It was for sure a God idea, and I felt Him speak to my heart, "I accepted you even when you smelled like this cat poop." WHAT?! 

Amazing, right?! So that Wednesday night I brought in a huge bag of my cats poop. Yep...  I did. I'm willing to do weird things to help my kids remember lessons they hear in church. As I had the cat poop bag passed around the room, by the way, two of the kids ran to the corner and hid. I told them that even in our life when we are at our smelliest God was and is still there. He never stops pursuing us with his love. God is so holy, and yet he loved us in our dirtiest place. And when we accept his love for us, he does the best cleaning job ever. Or you can think of it the way one of my 7th grade girls stated, "God is the best litter box cleaner." 

And this time of year it almost brought me to tears, no not the poop, but the fact that Jesus was born around POOP!!! It must've stunk so badly in that barn. But one VERY brave teenage girl birthed a baby in a dirty place surrounded by dirty animals in a dirty world. He would grow up ready to serve, heal, and love the dirty people around him. He died for you and wants you to accept his gift of eternal unfailing love. It's right there, and it's up to us to realize our foul smelling self and give it up so God can clean us up.

Let’s get real, I’ve been doing a pretty terrible job lately of spending time with my Creator and Savior. I’ve been so focused on the business, and not only that but my mistakes. What in the world do I have to give to God? I don’t have the beautiful treasures as the wise men had, like frankincense and gold… Oh wait there’s myrrh. Ha! I’m not even that great at knitting. I’ve done a pretty great job, however of stinking up my life. I’ve disappointed people, I haven’t been diligent, and I feel like my planner, two calendars and mounting to-do’s are RUNNING MY LIFE!!! I’m practically on my knees right now people… I want to be like that little drummer boy, coming to his king with what he has. I may only have what He’s given me. My life. You know what? I think that’s enough for Him. In fact, it’s all Jesus has asked for.

So this Christmas season when you're thinking about the incredible thing God did by coming to earth as a baby, hopefully I didn't ruin it for you too much and now all you think of is cat poop. But the main point is, through God's infinite power He gave us Himself fully understanding the pain, temptations, hurts and hang ups of this world so we could be fully with him; fully in a relationship with our Creator. He's done His part. He came to us. Traveling through galaxies, stripping off His glory to become fully man, and embrace this world. Now it's up to you, draw near, and allow Him to clean you up. He will. He's there. He's ready. Now it's up to us to realize we may smell a litter... Oops I mean a little. And receive the gift of perfect unfailing love.

Romans 5:6-8 (MSG)

"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.