Still Water Moments: The Art of the Custodian
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
If you’ve been reading this devotional for the past few months, you may have guessed by now that there has been a theme of relating to the different positions in a school through a spiritual lens. We will keep this 2025 theme going by examining the role of the custodian. In addition to making classroom repairs, groundskeeping, ensuring sanitary supplies are consistently stocked, they allow us to work and operate in a clean environment. Students and school staff are not slowed down by muck and mire, as a clean, orderly environment positively affects the mental and frees us from further distractions, helping conditions to be conducive to learning.
I teach my students to appreciate our custodians and not take them for granted. I’ve had students accidentally spill water, then request that a custodian be called to clean it up. I try to take advantage of such teachable moments and explain the importance of cleaning up after oneself. This includes picking up various items dropped on the floor; cleaning out the classroom sink if a mess was made; using a disinfectant wipe to clean their desks, etc. The custodian still comes at the end of the day to do an overall cleaning of the classroom, as they are the professional and thus will have the cleaning supplies and equipment to do a thorough job, however the students learn an important lesson of accountability and self-sufficiency by cleaning up after themselves.
It’s the same with us and God. Sometimes we have to initiate the “clean up” process ourselves, then God can come through and do the overall thorough cleaning. 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Thus, the first step is acknowledging there is a mess to clean up, then God can initiate the process of purifying, or cleansing us. Let’s look at an example of a person dating someone, knowing God is not pleased with the relationship. The sin would be ignoring God’s prompting to end the relationship. Once the person makes the decision to repent for ignoring God’s voice and end the relationship, the person has put themself in the advantageous position of hearing God’s directions which is always better than man’s. God may lead them to end the relationship by severing communication, e.g. blocking the person on their phone and severing social media connections, etc. These are major actions that require His strength and faith to carry out and maintain. However, once the person follows through on these actions, the clean-up process progresses by preventing: possible toxicity from coming their way; the barrage of feelings of guilt that come from entertaining an ungodly connection; and compromising oneself, etc. They also stop an unhealthy bond from growing deeper, making it all the more difficult to sever the connection the more it grows. Now God is able to come in and help heal the person from any negative effects the relationship may have caused. This includes correcting wrong mindsets that settled in. He’ll also enlighten the person about things they didn’t know about themself and how they got in the situation in the first place. Then with His guidance, they take that vital information and use it as a precaution to prevent it from happening again and to work on spiritual growth. God shows Himself in the role of sanctifier, helping us clean up the messes we create which causes us to operate more efficiently in our Christian walk.
Understand it’s not always sin that God is prompting us to clean up. He might show us things we need to work on and improve such as tendencies, character traits, distractions, etc. We need to remember not to get down on ourselves when God shows us things we need to correct. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” While the new creation begins when we accept Christ, the process of the new increasing and the old decreasing takes time and work on our part. It also includes God’s grace. We would feel overwhelmed and condemned if he gave us a list of all the things that need to change the moment we got saved. His grace allows this progressive sanctification to happen over time as it states in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” He will be cleansing us until the day we leave this earth. Being a willing participant in this process makes it go smoother and acknowledging our “muck and mire” makes us relatable to others as we are each in a clean-up process.
Reflection: What “muck and mire” is God showing you needs cleaning up? What literal steps will you need to take to start the process?
