Helga & Granny – Both in the ‘Sin Bin’

9-13am

So early in the morning and lessons learned already.  If Granny had ‘clocked out’ two years ago when she had a turn and I thought she was dying, I would never have learned the lessons I’ve learned through her over these last months.  I was really mad at her this morning and you will agree it was for good reason. I got up and went downstairs and as I walked into her bedroom, I noticed her night nappy in the passage. Granny cannot control her bladder any more so she is in nappies day and night.  I have tried to persuade her to leave her night nappy on. Sometimes, she wakes early in the morning, takes it off, goes back to bed without one on and I get there ‘just in time’ to put a fresh one on and all is well. (That happened yesterday morning). But when she does it late at night (grrrrrr!!!!) and then goes back to bed without one, we have a major issue in the morning. The bed is wet, the sheets are wet, the pillows are wet, her nightie is wet, she is wet. Big mission! That was the what met me this morning! I couldn’t be cheerful!! There in the passage lay an almost dry nappy and there in the bed lay a very wet Granny! I marched (actually, shuffled) her off to the bathroom, put her in the bath and gave her a good clean up. Dressed her, stripped the bed & cleaned the mattress cover. I didn’t moan at her. I just wasn’t happy. There was no cheerful chit-chat. There was no encouragement and enthusiasm. There was just a grumpy Helga! 🙁  Granny was in the sin bin. I made her breakfast and made coffee for Mike and then went and joined him in bed!  I understand that she doesn’t know what she’s doing, but it doesn’t make it easier on me! This is not about Granny, this is about me!  No ‘poor Granny’…it was ‘poor Helga’.

I went upstairs to shower, taking with me cleaner and an old toothbrush and got stuck into cleaning the shower.  On the mirror, ‘for such a time as this!’ and ‘I can’t but God can’ reminded me that I needed an attitude correction. The shower became my sin bin. As I cleaned the shower, I imagined the dirt as sin in the nooks and crannies of my life.  I imagined the dirt as my sin running down the drain.  It was an illustration of a very small thing with a massive Bible lesson for life. I have been forgiven so much.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

It’s been a lot of hard work to get the shower clean and I’ve got some way to go, but eventually it will be like this again…

To be forgiven for our sins, is so much easier. We just have to ask. As we cruise towards 2013, it’s an opportunity for a fresh start. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to start the new year, forgiven by God. Happy people are forgiven people. Forgiven people, forgive.

Grateful Helga.

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂