comparing salt to sin

I know the Bible typically uses salt to represent Believers, so it may be strange to compare salt to sin, but follow me...

We seem to have a bit of a flea problem. We don't even have a pet. What's up with that? We did keep my stepmom's dog a MONTH ago, and now we have stinkin' fleas. In the last week, I've seen probably 12 fleas. Derrick's seen another few.

Did you know that female fleas can lay 500 eggs a day? And a flea can live for 9 months? And the eggs/pupae can live up to a year before hatching? The little buggers lie in wait, sensing when the environment is ripe for a host, and then they hatch!!

I called our pest control company, and they said it would be $125 to come out and treat, and it would involve chemicals on the floor and lots of vacuuming. I decided to research online and see if there was a cheaper/less-chemically way to get rid of the fleas. Derrick found a site that mentioned using table salt. It was just a discussion board, but several people chimed in and said they'd had great success with using table salt to get rid of fleas. Supposedly the salt dehydrates the eggs, which are the real nuisance, and then you vacuum a lot to get rid of the adults.

So...I went to the store, bought several canisters of salt, and sprinkled them all over our bedroom and living room (haven't seen the fleas anywhere else). We used 3 cans of salt, and boy was it easy. Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. It just came right out. I planned to let it sit overnight, then get up first thing and vacuum it up. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to keep the kids off of it until I had a chance to vacuum, but that's why I was using salt instead of possibly toxic chemicals.

The next morning? Oh my word. Let's just say it's a lot easier to sprinkle than it is to vacuum. I vacuumed for 3 hours. My hands hurt from vacuuming. Bless my kids. They were actually quite well-behaved to have been sitting for 3 hours while mommy vacuumed.

As I was vacuuming for 3 hours, the thought occurred to me that salt is like sin. See, I vacuumed and vacuumed my hard wood floors, trying to get up all the salt. Each time thru, it would look like all the salt was gone...from one angle. Then I would move to another area, look back, and there was still so much salt on the floor! In fact, there's still salt on the floor.

As Believers, we sometimes get to a place where we think we've gotten rid of our sin...or at least have a handle on it. But in reality, our sin is like the salt on my floor. Move to another area, go through something else in life, face another temptation, and you will realize that there's still sin. It's dangerous to think for one second that we've conquered it.

Hear this: I am not saying that I don't think it's possible to conquer sin or that it's ok to believe, "I'll never be perfect. There's no point in trying." The Bible says Christ came to conquer sin. We cannot do it, but He has already done it. Now we just have to allow Him to be the vacuum cleaner in the nooks and crannies of our hearts. If we allow it, He will get rid of the sin.

As I try to conquer these fleas, I'm learning a lot about patience and putting my contentment in more than my immediate surroundings. Fleas are NO FUN. If I allow them to get to me, I am no fun, and that's no fun for anyone else. I'm trying my best to take each day as it comes and not let my peace and joy be squelched by these fleas.

Oh - and I borrowed a Rainbow from my friend Melanie. Praise God for Rainbows. It's a water-based vacuum system, so all the dirt that's vacuumed off the floor goes right into a tub of water. I can actually see the fleas I've vacuumed as I dump the water out. Look how nasty the water was the first time I vacuumed our bedroom (keep in mind that I've been vacuuming twice a day with my Eureka for the past week).

Yuck!! Here's to hoping that the salt and this Rainbow will get rid of these fleas. Please.