This weekend, Carter went outside and played with his tractor in the dirt. When he came inside, he wanted to climb on our bed. I brushed him off, took off his shoes, and gave him the go ahead. A little bit later he wanted to go back outside and play, so I told him to bring me his shoes. He walked over to his shoes, picked one up by the sole, and then threw it back down again brushing his hands together saying, “Yuck, yuck.” There was a thin layer of dirt coating the bottom of his shoes and he wanted no part of it.  Even after we shook off the dirt and wiped them clean, he still wanted me to put the shoes on for him so he didn’t have to touch them.

I think we could all learn a little something from Carter. No, we don’t need to be neurotic about keeping dirt off of our shoes, but we do need to be neurotic about keeping dirt out of our souls. We get so used to commercials, tv shows, advertisements, movies and other media that oftentimes we are tracking in dirt all over our hearts and minds. We get desensitized to bad language, crude humor, slanderous speech, and pointless chatter. And maybe it’s not what we are doing, but what we are NOT doing-idleness.

As I watched Carter throw his shoes down repulsed by the dirt, I was convicted. I’m not always repulsed by sin. I’m not always repulsed by the things that oppose God. Sometimes I catch myself justifying, “Oh, just a little bit of dirt never hurt anybody.” But a little bit of dirt over time becomes quite the mess. I’m going to work on this because if I’m allowing dirt in, I’m going to start showering dirt on everyone else. What goes in always comes out.

How about you? Are you bringing dirt in on your shoes?