What's In Your Ear?!?

We look in Sarah's ears from time to time. No - not that she sticks anything in them (like my great Uncle Lester who actually stuck a bean in his ear during the Great Depression and was so sacred to tell his ma and pa that it actually started to grow...) No... Sarah's ears are very talented at making wax.

Ok, ok - that's a little gross... but when she first arrived, we were so concerned about this wax problem of hers, we were compelled to constantly look in her ears, hoping she could still hear through all the junk in those beauties!

Here's how it would normally go...

"Did you see what fell out of Sarah's ear?!? Look at this!"
"Eweeeee! Grosssssss!"
"That yucky Momma! That Daddy's!"
"Ok, we gotta check to make sure there's nothing else in there!"
"That sounds like a good idea!"
"Ya - yucky in my eeeeaww Momma..."

So we'd scoop her up, plop her on the bed and shine a flashlight in her ear to check things out. Since then, we have been told by various doctors that we shouldn't worry about Sarah's ears; they work very well and are perfectly fine to do what they've always done.

So it was with a bit of surprise that she asked for a flashlight yesterday while we were all three taking a quick afternoon "3-minute" siesta on the bed.

"Momma, I want light... can I have light?"
"Sure honey... what do you want it for?"
"Look Daddy's ewww Momma... look you ewww Momma..."

So she looks in my ear... no comment... then scoots over to Mike on the other side of the bed. As she shines her little flashlight into Mike's ears I have the following conversation with her...

"What are you looking for Sweetie?"
"Ahhh.... I donno..."
"Do you think something is in your Daddy's ear?"

Silence...

"What do you think is in there?"

More silence...

At this point I was studying her little face - she was wearing a very determined look, all the while tugging on Mike's ear and shining that flashlight against his head.

"Momma... Jesus in there Momma?"

I couldn't help but crack-up. She was so serious... looking for Jesus in her Daddy's ear. When we started to laugh, she had no idea what was so funny. She couldn't understand why we were turning red, almost falling off the bed, we were laughing so hard. When I finally answered her, I told her that Jesus could be anywhere He wanted to be, even if it was inside Daddy's ear.

Fast forward 24 hours.

I am sitting, smack dab in the middle of staff prayer (for those of you who don't know, I work for a church). I'm listening to the lead pastors 20-something-year-old son tell me about personal freedom. I was skeptical at first, but he said something to me that echoed in my ears a while, something I've been thinking long and hard about the past few months.

He said, sometimes we think that God doesn't want anything to do with us - that we're so dirty, so far gone that He doesn't want to be near us anymore. Sometimes we think God only wants to be close to those that are close to Him. Sometimes we think we're not good enough to talk to God - or that God won't pay attention to us if we aren't what He wants us to be. But do you really think that is how God feels about you? Do you really think that is why Jesus went to the cross?

I've struggled with those feelings my whole life... the ones that tell me I can only approach Him if I'm clean... I can only talk to Him if I'm in "good spiritual shape." So many times, I've felt like my prayers have hit the ceiling and fallen back on me...

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. You know why?

Because Jesus likes to be in our ears.

That is not to say He enjoys all the gunk and filth that we sometimes create, but He loves us enough to endure whatever it is we might be going through, just so He can clean us up later on. He endured the cross for me... all my putridity, foul and rotten; all my fetidness, rank and stinking - He took it on Himself... who am I to try to appear clean before Him? The very One who knows every foul, detestable, wretched and dishonorable thing I've ever done... who am I to want to hide myself from Him? I am so thankful He has removed my sins from me as far as the east is from the west... and He thinks of them no more. What grace and mercy on me! He is the only one who can look past my shortcomings, past my ugliness, past my brokenness, to see the person I am in the process of becoming.

You know... we're all dirty ears in some way or another. Mine are just as dirty as yours... maybe even more so.

But regardless of how yicky-icky our ears will get... we can still look for Jesus there - because no matter how dirty they have been, are, or will be... Jesus offers to clean them out for free... all we need to do is ask.