How a tube of toothpaste changed my life
If my memory serves me right this incident happened more than 20 years ago. I never realized that a simple matter of how one squeezes toothpaste can cause so much aggravation and frustration. You see, I am the type who likes his tube squeezed from the bottom with every ounce of paste neatly exiting the tube. My wife Marie squeezes everywhere.
Imagine coming home to a mangled and disfigured tube after methodically emptying it in the morning. Sometimes when toothpaste is trapped at the bottom end of the tube because of the creases and dents I would express my frustration to Marie telling her to do something about the way she abuses our toothpaste.
Other times the creases crack the sides of the tube (this was in the days when tubes were made of aluminum) spilling out toothpaste on the white sink. I am tempted to draw a red arrow pointing to the near invisible waste to show her how uneconomical if not prodigal she is and how much of a sinner she was.
Then it happened during one of my frustrating moments. The Holy Spirit spoke His word to me as I held the mutilated tube. "...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
In His still silent manner the Holy Spirit impressed in my heart the thought that "if you love your wife, do as Jesus did, don't wait to be served but serve her everyday by fixing the toothpaste for her." I was certain she would never turn from her fallen nature and she would still squeeze it the wrong way. But now God wanted me to serve Marie in this specific area - EVERYDAY!
That day I began a journey into service that would last a few years. Everyday I would fix the tube and everyday Marie butchered it. And with each passing day I felt how God felt about the infractions I would not willingly deal with. I also started enjoying the act of serving Marie. It became a challenge of how long I could endure long suffering and downright angst.
As I became more aware of my own toothpaste type issues with God I realized how small if not inconsequential Marie's infraction was. Over time it really didn't matter. The words of Jesus became a living mantra -" just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve" - it changed my life.
In God's mercy and kindness one day as I was neatly fixing our tube the Holy Spirit dropped a brilliant idea, "why don't you get Marie a tube for herself, this way she can torture it all she wants and you won't need to fix it." It was then that I realized that God can drop the solutions to our practical problems quickly but is often more concerned with the condition of our hearts and wants to fix it.
By the way, the picture above shows my toothpaste below and Marie's tube above it. She still mutilates them but now I love her for it. Better yet I no longer have to fix her tube. Have a great week connecting to God and to one another!
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