The custodians at the elementary school where I teach are currently battling leaves.
The fallen foliage is on the outside, but it keeps coming in the building—thanks to the ever present Oklahoma wind.
At the end of the day, the hallway near pre-kindergarten parent pick up looks like this.
Our little leaf litter problem even made it on the agenda at a recent staff meeting.
Head Principal: “The custodians ask that we not let leaves blow into the hallway during parent pickup.”
Outspoken teacher (not me): “The leaves are outside; they just need to be raked up and bagged. Problem solved.”
Said teacher was asked if they wanted to volunteer for the job.
Silence….🦗🦗🦗
“But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door; it’s desire is to have you, but you must master it.”
Genesis 4:7 (NIV)
This was God’s advice for Cain, when he was furious with his brother, Abel. As you probably know, he didn’t listen. Cain let a whole forest of leaves in the door when he murdered his sibling.
Frankly, I wonder if I’m any better. No, I haven’t committed a homicide, but sin is sin. And Romans 3:23a reminds us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Thank the Lord this isn’t the end of the verse! 3:23b says, “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Kind reader, thanks to God’s grace we can “rake the leaves” that collect by the door of our lives, as often as necessary. Confession is indeed good for the soul.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify is from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (NIV)
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️
Davids Daily Dose 
Comments
36 responses to “Leaves By the Door”
It probably is, but Wichita can’t be far behind. We have zero hills except for the lovely Brooks Landfill.
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I knew you couldn’t leaf this one alone, SimplyB! 🍁I’ve heard Dodge City is one of the windiest towns in the country.
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From a Kansan so familiar with wind, I appreciate this post SO MUCH! And yes, we sure can rake the leaves that collect by the door of our lives as often as needed!! So thankful for the grace of God in our leafy lives.
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True INDEED!
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You understand! There’s rarely enough teachers or classroom assistants to go around either. Thank you, Nancy.
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You’re right: understaffing is always a problem. Even back during my years in the classroom, the custodians didn’t seem to have time for much more than emptying wastebaskets and sweeping the floors.
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Everyone at the meeting thought the same thing, Nancy! Our custodians are understaffed and stress is heightened struggling to keep a 200,000 square foot building clean.
Thank you for sharing! Yes, let’s not let those leaves pile up!
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I have to wonder if the custodians have ever been around during kindergarten pick-up! How do you open a door multiple times on a windy day and NOT let a few leaves in?! Must say, though, the life-lesson you drew from the pile-up in the corner is not only creative but spot-on. We need to deal with those leaves as soon as possible to avoid “deeper” issues.
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Amen, Beth. Muddy paw prints sound much more serious than leaves in the hall!
Yes, thank God He doesn’t ask us to deal with the leaves alone. Jesus is the ultimate raker, bagger, and composter!
Thanks for reading and commenting! Blessings.
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David, I feel your custodians pain only our “kinder-Labs” like to roll in the yard at recess and enter the house leaving a trail of leaves, grass, and muddy pawprints. How good it is to know that we are not left alone to tackle the leaf problem- Jesus not only helps us see the pesky pile of leaves, He also helps us rake it up, and clean out any that have blown inside.
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I actually loved that the crickets were so big, it emphasized the silence even more!
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God bless you too, David. 🙂
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Yes, I feel better coming clean with God too, Lesley. He knows our hearts anyway.
My wife, Nancy and I cleaned the leaves up yesterday. I wrote a haiku about it on my other site.
Thanks for sharing! God Bless.
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Well said, David. I always feel better for unburdening myself to the Lord.
If I had been in your school meeting, I can honestly say I would have volunteered to rake up the leaves. We get bags of leaves from our neighbours’ gardens and use them as mulch on ours. 😀
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Yes, thank God for his forgiveness! I appreciate your reading and commenting, Dawn. God Bless.
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True, Gary. It’s like storing gasoline next to the water heater. 🔥🧯🚒
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We’re blessed that God freely forgives us, over and over again. I enjoy your analogies, David. Thanks!
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That’s a good illustration David. Those leaves never just sit there harmlessly.
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I’ll take leaves over 5 feet of snow. A little snow would be nice, though. We only get about 6 inches a year.
I didn’t realize the crickets would be so big!
Thanks for reading and commenting. God Bless!
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Such a very good message. Sometimes we are all full of helpful suggestions, for someone else to do, certainly not us! Great use of crickets… 10,122 bonus points, because they were almost life size in the post! And gosh but I miss seeing leaves. They are currently buried under 5 feet of snow at the ranch. Sigh.
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It might work lol
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Like Huck Finn tricked his friends into painting the picket fence in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. “Hey boys and girls, let’s have a leaf raking contest!”🤗
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Maybe tell the 4th and 5th graders if they rake the leaves, they can jump in the piles 🙂
Thankfully God is faithful to cleanse us
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Now there’s a word our two countries have in common: cul-de-sac. I believe it’s French for “place where leaves collect.”😁
Thanks for sharing, brother! God’s best to you and the whole Kearns clan.🏴
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Thanks, Pete. The company coat of arms is often a portrait of a person pointing two different directions: “It’s there fault!”
Personal sin isn’t so easily deflected.
Thanks for stopping by! God Bless.
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What a great analogy brother David, believe me I get it. Our house is in the corner of our street (a cul-de-sac in the UK) right next to the woods, and we get a never ending avalanche of leaves from late summer onwards. If I don’t rake them regularly they become mountains quite quickly. How true of our life, unless we rake the sin and dispose of them they will be hard to move!
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By the way the point of the post is great. Yes it’s time to rake up some of those attitudes that get on the loose and start blowing around by my door. I do have to laugh at the leaves being brought up at a meeting. I suppose if this had been in Congress, they would have appointed a committee to study the matter and adjourned!
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Amen, Manette Kay. Thank you for reading and sharing. You got my point exactly! Blessings.
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So true! What matters most should be attended to frequently. Thank you for sharing this. God Bless!
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Every teacher in the room agrees with you, Bridget! It
did sound silly. Unfortunately, it’s the classic story of “who’s job is it?” The school district grounds crew takes care of the leaves, but they don’t come by too often in the winter.
I’m glad God didn’t say, “That’s not my job” when it came to redeeming us!
Thanks for stopping by. God Bless!
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What a great analogy, David!
A daily “raking” away sins from our door will stop them from drifting into our hearts. It would work with the leaves too.
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I found it kind of silly to tell everyone not to let leaves in. It’s not like anyone did it on purpose. But I know that’s not the point of your story! 😁 I really appreciate this analogy. It is indeed a good reminder to rake up our leaves before they get out of hand. And I appreciate the mention of Cain because the way God spoke to Him reminded me that God truly wants us to succeed in our raking. What a loving Father we have! Thank you, David! Insightful post! God bless! ♥️
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This is a great illustration. It’s often the small things we can’t be bothered doing that eventually cause us a lot of problems!
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🙂
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There were a few chuckles after the silence. Everyone knew our fellow teacher was right. Thanks, Andy B. I’m so looking forward to your relaunch!
Yes, a pen and jotter says, “I have an agenda!”
God Bless, brother.
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Such a good metaphor!!
Feel for that outspoken teacher though lol. Well, a little…it’s the kind of thing I might let slip out of my mouth too if I’m honest…
It’s like entering a small meeting with a pen and notepad….”so you’ll be the spokesperson and note taker then since you’ve come prepared!!”
Great post. Thanks David. I’ll even be able to start sharing posts from others again soon – once we launch our new website, and make the switch to our new blog 😁
Andy B
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