The monster in the back of the fridge

First off, I realize that this my second post about my fridge.  This is a little excessive.  But for one thing I think that fridges are one of my favourite modern appliances. I have a hard time imagining life without it. I guess in the winter I could put stuff outside and hopefully no animals would find it, but in the summer it would a little tricky. But I also really love my new fridge. It's big, it's shiny, it has this great water dispenser that the kids can use to get their own water - even the two-year-old! No more waiting and whining for mom to get 5 cups of water while she is also cooking dinner, talking on the phone and helping with homework at the same time. 

But here's the catch. I hate cleaning my fridge. Well, I hate cleaning of any kind, really. If I've had you over, you might have guessed this. I think I'm cleaning disabled. (Can I get a parking spot for that?) Cleaning the fridge, though, is a special kind of hate. I dislike alot of things about cleaning the fridge, but the worst is finding mouldy leftovers and unused food that are now garbage. Nothing is worse than finding a container full of green goo that once was a delicious meal that I spent time, money and effort to make. Or a delicious vegetable that I had great plans for, and now is destined only for its inevitable compost funeral. All I see (and smell!) is waste. Waste of time, waste of effort, waste of food, waste of money. It takes all I have to reach into the mess and pull out the odorous results of my procrastination and apathy. 

But it also makes me think about what else I am pushing to the back of my "fridge", my life, my heart. What relationships am I neglecting because they are too much work? What new ideas have the potential to be awesome except that I'm too afraid to try them? What could I be doing with all this time that I'm investing into TV shows on Netflix? I think if Jesus were teaching his parables today, the parable of the talents would be told as the parable of the fridge leftovers. I'm definitely the servant who buries her casserole in the back of the fridge until judgement day. 

I managed to clean out my fridge this week. Still working on my soul.