Clean the Corners

I talked to a former owner of a restaurant the other day, and for some reason we got on the subject of cleaning.  More so relating to cleaning bathrooms, but we won't delve into those details.  Of course she, the restaurant owner, couldn't constantly be at the restaurant to check every little thing, but she had her own ways of finding out what had been done.  One of her tricks was to put a small stack of pennies in corners of certain rooms.  If the employees really cleaned, then they would've discovered the pennies, or at least knocked the stack over.  But if they didn't really clean, then the pennies would be in the exact same place as they were when they were first stacked.  More often than not, the corners were overlooked.

Corners are places that people pay little attention to.  They figure no one will see them.  But corners aren't only in rooms; we have corners in our lives.  At first glance, things could look fine, but in the corners of our lives, we could have a stash of dirt and debris that desperately demands dusting.  The question is, how often do we clean the corners of our lives?  Do we let them collect dirt and dust because we know they're not seen by other people?  Or do we make sure they are just as clean as the rest of the floor?   As much as we try to hide it from others, the Lord sees all.  Alma puts in pretty bluntly by saying, "But behold, ye cannot hide your crimes from God." (Alma 39:8).  May we clean, clear, and cast out our concealed crimes.  When we do, the corners of our lives will no longer haunt us.

An Egg-cellent Story

The other day, an unfortunate thing happened.  I ran out of milk...and eating Marshmallow Maties dry is just not the same.  So, I made some scrambled eggs.  To my surprise, they turned out pretty good.  I was satisfied with the breakfast I had created, and was ready for the day.  So ready, that I didn't wash the dishes I had just used.  I just threw them in the sink.  Once we got back from our hard days work, it came time to do the dishes. 

Because I had waited all that time, what was left of the eggs had hardened to the pan, and was quite difficult to get off.  I wasn't expecting it to be such a chore, but I really had to put some elbow grease in it.  If only I didn't wait until later, then it wouldn't have been such a burden. 

I learned a valuable lesson that day.  There's no need to wait when something needs to get done.  Alma, a Book of Mormon Prophet says, "Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end..."  (Alma 34:33).  We are like the frying pan, and the eggs are things that we need to repent of.  When we make mistakes, we don't want them to be sitting on our souls until we find time to clean them off.  We must make time.  We need to clean them as soon as we can.  The longer we wait, the easier it will be to push it off until later.  We must be repenting every day, and cleaning the eggs off our frying pan.  Only when the pan is nice and shiny can the Savior look at us, and see himself.