sloppy Slush mopping

You might say that mopping is one of my specialties.

I am no janitor, but my past three jobs & my past three practica/internships have all had me mopping something up for a good portion of time each week. That, and I actually have been employed as a janitor—but only for a week, as I was a relief worker for the regular janitor who went on vacation.

I even have taken a class in university where I was taught the proper union-grade, professional mopping technique(s).

This past week, I was mopping up the grime, slush & dirt that my store's patrons trod in on their boots from yonder parking lot. It was an epiphanous moment for me, when after I had just completed an immaculately spotless patch of floor space—glistening brightly in its damp glory—one of my managers came walking past, right over the newly cleaned tiles. As she walked past, she commented on how mopping was one of the least rewarding jobs that anyone could do, for as soon as a newcomer passed through our glass-paned doors, the moment of glory for the mopper's efforts would find itself besmirched with a sloppy trail of what looks very much like a pile of iced tea crystals in too little water. Stomp stomp stomp. Trudge trudge trudge. A wavy trail of spattered footprints mars and scars the shimmering clean floor. Cleanliness is vanquished.

It had occurred to me at that moment that this is perhaps a very good picture of God's grace. Here we go, tracking mud and dirt all over the clean floor of our lives. Jesus, the mopper, comes along and swabs up the mess that we make; restoring the floor to its original state—but again, it only takes a single step to sully that floor again. And again, Jesus comes along to clean up the mess. Even if we haven't stepped outside for days, the soles of our shoes are still covered with a film of dust, silt and debris. We cross that freshly cleaned floor only to deposit that shoe-dust on the still damp tiles, undeniably leaving a path of dirty spots corresponding to our path. Yet, again, Jesus is there to mop up the mess.

Mopping is a relentless task, especially in this season, with its snowmelt, its road sand and its ice salt. Sometimes, the job seems frustrating, since your efforts last nary a minute before experiencing corruption. The picture of God's grace in this all is that Jesus never becomes frustrated: He continues to wash the floor as an act of love. Also, in mopping, water's pretty much free & still, the incessant need to change and re-change the water to get a clean floor seems taxing. Jesus' cleaning job, however, requires a stronger, more costly solvent: to clean our dirt required his blood. And still he labours in love, wiping away the dirt over & over again. Though it cost him an exceeding amount, He has resolved not to stop cleaning the floor, keeping it spotless so that in the end, when his Father comes to inspect the place, the floor can be presented spotless and pure, an acceptable surface for a King to use.

That, I believe, is grace.