The Happy Face Sticker

I have been recycling for years.
I recycling even before it was mandatory in most places.
I would put all of our recyclables in the back of the minivan.
Everything was sorted in containers.

The children and I would drive to the recycling place.
There used to be a line.
We would sit in the car and people would come up to you and help you unload.
I wanted my children to learn the importance of reusing instead of wasting.

Years later it got quite easy to recycle.
You still had to sort paper, plastic, and glass.
However, now it was part of your trash service.
Each house was given bins for all the items that were to be recycled.

With five children we needed a larger bin than the one they gave us.
We had milk cartons, more than I dare to admit.
When my children were all home, we went through at least 12 gallons of milk each week.
I had to buy a small trash can on wheels that would be used for recycling.

Our trash company never complained that I did not use their bins.
The recycling men could see the amount of recyclables we had each week.
They got very used to our small blue trashcan on wheels.
The word recycling had been written on it in permanent marker, though it has faded.

Our trash is collected quite early on Wednesday mornings.
By the time my husband leaves for work at 8:00, the trash has already been collected.
The recycling truck comes through our development a few hours later.
The small blue trashcan on wheels is still at the end of our driveway until about lunchtime.

My husband mentioned that the trash company had sent a happy face sticker in the mail.
I love happy face stickers.
I loved happy face pins and remember when they came into fashion.
I wore quite a few of them on my uniform when I was in school; it was my way to be unique.

I saw the happy face sticker on his desk.
On a whim, I decided that I was going to stick it on my small blue trashcan used for recycling.
I stuck it on the side that was facing the street.
The sticker with the black dot eyes and wide smile made me smile.

I thought the bright yellow sticker would brighten the day of the recycling men.
I did not think any more about it as my husband put the trash out the night before.
It wasn’t until my husband left for work that I noticed it.
Both the large trashcan and the small blue trashcan used for recycling had been moved.

It was moved by the trash company.
They always move it to the side after they collect the trash.
However, this day both trashcans were moved to the side.
When I really looked out the window, the small blue trashcan appeared to be empty.

When I went for my walk, I stopped at the end of the driveway.
Both trashcans were indeed empty.
The bright yellow happy face sticker was still smiling.
Where had all my recycling gone?

As I brought the trashcans inside the garage, I figured it out.
The bright yellow happy face sticker was to be placed on TRASH cans.
The bright yellow happy face ticker was not to be placed on recycling.
When the trash men saw the sticker, they assumed that small blue trashcan had trash in it, too.

All my glass jars, my milk cartons, my cans, my newspapers and catalogs were thrown away.
Nothing that I so carefully separated for recycling would be recycled.
Everything that could be used again was now gone, headed to the landfill.
I was sad about that; I was annoyed at myself for putting the sticker on the blue trashcan.

I got out a thick permanent marker and wrote, RECYCLING, on both sides of the small blue trashcan.
I pulled off every last bit of the bright yellow happy face sticker.
It clung to the side of the blue trashcan.
It came off in pieces as I tried to remove it with my fingernails.

May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

We can say something with our words but our heart can be saying something much different.
We think we are just fine.
It is like the bright yellow happy face sticker on the small blue trashcan.
It meant one thing to me and something totally different to the trash men.

Our words and our heart must match.
Our words and our heart must agree.
We think we can hide behind our words.
However, God knows our hearts; nothing is hidden from Him.

We cannot hide behind a bright yellow happy face sticker.
We cannot hide from God.
God knows the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart.
God knows when our words and our heart do not agree.

We care about what the world sees and hears.
The world pays attention to our appearance and our words.
God cares about what the world does not see.
God cares about our heart.