More of Him Monday

Diana at "Sunshine On My Shoulders" is hosting a wonderful new feature: More of Him Monday Be sure to visit Diana's blog to read her's and others' inspiring posts.

It seems that every Sunday afternoon I get depressed because the weekend is almost over and I must return to work in the morning. It's not that I dislike my job; its the "garbage" that I must deal with every day. You know-the gossiping, the back-stabbing, the complaining, the unfairness, etc. That kind of garbage. There has been a lot of it lately. And it has been affecting me both mentally and physically.
So yesterday afternoon I prayed to Jesus: "Lord, I'm not sure how much longer I can put up with this "garbage" at work so I'm giving this one to you. I need your wisdom on how to deal with this "garbage".

Shortly afterwards, I got on the computer to check out some blogs and I heard that "click" which meant that I'd just received an email. It was from my sister and I would like to share a part of it with you:

Beware of Garbage Trucks
by David J. Pollay

How often do you let other people's nonsense change
your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss,
or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you're the
Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your
heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly
she can get back her focus on what's important.

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson.
I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab.
Here's what happened.

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded,
and missed the other car's back end by just inches!

The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.
And I mean, he was friendly.
So, I said, "Why did you just do that?
This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

And this is when my taxi driver told me what I
now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

Many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration,
full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it.
And if you let them, they'll dump it on you.
When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally.

You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
You'll be happy you did.

So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck."
I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me?
And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people:

at work, at home, on the streets?
It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."

I began to see garbage trucks.
Like in the movie " The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People."

Well, now "I see Garbage Trucks."
I see the load they're carrying.
I see them coming to drop it off.
And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing;
I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

So I thought how strange it was to receive this email after that little chat I had with God less than an hour earlier. Surely this couldn't have come from Him through cyberspace.
I walked into the bathroom to clean the cat's litter box and noticed that Carlos had hung a small cross from the knob of the medicine cabinet. The late afternoon sun was shining through a small opening in the blinds directly on that cross and it was glowing!-I guess I had my answer.
No-it's not exactly scripture. Seems God chose to speak to me in my native New Jersey tongue (we do say "garbage" kind of funny), in a way in which I could clearly understand His message.
And His message stayed with me all day at work today. I truly had a wonderful day, despite all the craziness around me. I even sent that email to some of my co-workers.
Yes, this garbage dump is officially closed!