My sister-in-law always inspires me. Her house is always neat enough you could eat off the floor. She does the dishes as soon as the meal is over.

I know. And that is just the beginning. She is continually popping up to do something, put something away, you name it. She’s on top of things at her house. Unlike me. I’m on top of things only when the pile is so big I’m on the bottom and is having trouble breathing. Then I clear it off and life is good.

I spent 4 luxurious days at her house. It was heaven. I cooked two meals and before I could get everything finished she had cleaned the kitchen. No clean up for me.

Since she inspired me and I have been home from her house for almost a week now, I decided today was the day to do something with my inspiration. I started in the kitchen with the dishes. I moved to just sweeping the dining room floor, which of course led to sweeping the living room floor. Since those two rooms are really one big room and with me one thing leads to another it made sense.

Now I swept my floors day before yesterday. But today when I swept them my pile of dirt was unbelievably big. I mean this pile was huge. My sister-in-law only spot swept while we were there and her piles were nowhere near as big as mine.

Sweeping the floor of course led to rearranging the furniture. Rearranging the furniture led to more sweeping. And more sweeping. And still more sweeping.  I think I swept the floor 5 times with my large broom. Then I brought out my little broom and dustpan and spot swept the dirt I could see. I have no idea where all this dirt came from.

As I was sweeping my millionth pile, I kept comparing my dirt piles to my sister-in-law’s dirt piles.

Yes, I am that petty.

Mine were huge. Hers were tiny compared to mine. I know I have two children and a cat, but she has a dog and a cat, both of which shed something fierce. I didn’t think it very fair to me.  Then God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “…when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves, they are without understanding.”

Yikes. As I pondered that further I realized how silly I was to be comparing dirt piles.  More than that though, I realized we all have dirt piles.  I have more dirt piles than anyone else does. My piles might be different but they aren’t any bigger or more plentiful. To compare my piles with someone else’s piles is both silly and well, not wise.

I want to be wise. I want to have understanding. According to 2 Corinthians 10:12 to accomplish this I have to stop comparing my dirt piles with the dirt piles of others. Jesus died for those dirt piles. Jesus also cleans up the dirt piles of our lives when we turn them over to Him.