Venting

A recent (October 8) news story spoke of an unusual event: “A typically quiet geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupted last month, spewing water up to 30 feet in the air. Afterward, park employees found a slew of garbage surrounding its vent, including a Hamm's beer can, a vintage pacifier, a shoe heel and dozens of coins.  Curators considered placing the items in the park's archives as a reminder: Please, don't use the springs as a trash can. The park posted a photograph of the "strange" items after last month's eruption of the geyser called Ear Spring.  "Foreign objects can damage hot springs and geysers," said the park. "The next time Ear Spring erupts we hope it's nothing but natural rocks and water."  The pacifier dates back to the 1930s, according to Live Science, which noted a cinderblock, a busted bottle, old signs, cigarette butts and an eight-inch drinking straw among the items.  "Some are clearly historic," the park said in its post. So was the Sept. 15 eruption.  Old Ear had not experienced a known eruption of that size of since 1957, the United States Geological Survey said, though smaller bursts took place as recently as 2004.”*

This reminds me of some of the “venting” done in human relationships, such as marriages and families, at our workplace, or even among fellow disciples of Jesus.  We allow pressures within ourselves to grow to an unhealthy level and then we erupt.  And, sometimes, a lot of garbage is included in those ventings.  Garbage like name-calling, finger-pointing, or even, like the Yellowstone geyser, bringing up items from the past.

The caution offered by park officials is also good spiritual advice: “Please, don’t use the springs as a trash can.”  It was Jesus Himself who warned that “...the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matthew 12:34).  If we allow ourselves to be filled with garbage, sooner or later, in a moment of stress or pressure, the garbage will be spewed out upon those around us.  What a mess!

God loves you!

Mike

*https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/08/yellowstone-geyser-erupts-leaving-junk-decades-old/1570013002/