Stinky, yellowy, watery kitchen substance IN MY trash can! Not in my trashcan! How embarrassing. Just for the record, I love my trashcan-picker-uppers. They do an excellent job if I do my job first.

One July morning hazard to be my first day of recuperation after minor hand surgery, so I was late getting the trashcan out to the curb. As I struggled with the full trashcan flopping about on three wheels and trying to keep my bathrobe secure and my bare feet from hitting every loose pebble in the driveway, I headed for the curb. One of the waste management employees hopped down from the truck with a comical smile and jogged over to meet me halfway. He picked up all the trash bags from inside the trashcan, waved off my apologies with his sweet smile, and carried the offending bags back to his truck.

For his act of kindness, this stinky, yellowy, watery, kitchen stuff gushed out of one of my bags and on to his shoes. I felt like putting the trash can over my head and walking back up the driveway. Instead, I turned in my shame and turned the offending can upside down with the promise that I would “take care of you later”, just as soon as I got a roundtoit.

Well shortly after that, the day came when I found aroundtoit cowering and whimpering deep in a dark little corner of my closet. “Coward!” I accused.

With broom in one hand and disinfectant under my arm, I met the trashcan at “High Noon”. I turned the trashcan over and there on the rim of the offensive trashcan was a tiny garden snail gorging himself on the yellow soup. Now, I usually do not like garden snails, but that tiny creature enjoying his bountiful breakfast was the beginning of my attitude adjustment.

I emptied the remaining stinky, stuff, snail and all, over the river rocks and into the azaleas and began my deplorable task.

Water, water, water, scrub, scrub, scrub and the trashcan was once again presentable. No big deal. Right? Not quite.

Watching that small, insignificant garden snail and seeing the H2O splash over my river rocks with what appeared to be gleaming freedom, I remembered an episode of Nova. In that episode, scientists described “The Big Bang Theory.”
“In its first second of existence, the universe was made up of fundamental particles, including quarks, electrons, photons, and neutrinos. Protons and neutrons then began to form. In the next few minutes, the universe as we know it took shape. Already incomprehensibly large, its protons and neutrons came together to form the nuclei of simple elements. That the universe remains largely made up of these elements—hydrogen and helium is considered strong evidence of the validity of the big-bang model.”
Credit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/univ-nf.html

As more and more of these simple elements collided, some fused together forming new elements while others repelled retaining their original form. The H2O inside my trashcan--two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen is nothing short of a miracle. Wow!

Who could do such wonders? Who is in the business of miracles? What or who was the catalyst that caused the atoms to explode is such a violent eruption. Scientists are still not certain. But I am. The words and melody of an old favorite hymn swelled in my heart: “How Great Thou Art”.

Who would have thought that a tiny snail and cleaning a stinky, yellowy, watery kitchen substance could be such a spiritual experience?