The 5-Second Rule

Matt. 15:11

“What goes into man's mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean.”

I vacuum every day.  Not every room in the house every day, but some rooms, such as the kitchen receive attention several times a week.  There are 6 reasons for this.  Three are kids, three are cats.  And because I have likely vacuumed for the day, when that middle child drops his (insert food here) on the floor, I usually feel safe telling him to go ahead and eat it.  The 5-second rule in my house extends much longer.  After 3 kids, I have learned that no matter how long the dirt and germs have been there, chances are what jumps onto that cookie isn't going to kill my kid.

Is there still the possibility that said dropped food gathered some dirt on the floor?  Oh yes, quite likely as a matter of fact.  But I have made myself feel better by vacuuming and/or mopping earlier in the day.  Because truly, it won't make much of a difference in his overall health.

The disease that is more troublesome lately has been the name calling in our house.  No one will call out, "Mo-om, he ate a cookie off the floor!"  But daily, hourly, sometimes even by the minute I can hear, "Mo-om, she called me _____" (again, go ahead and fill in the blank here.)

These are more heart issues than body issues.  (Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.)  It is a lot easier to fix the body than it is the heart.

In the passage for today, the Pharisees are once again trying to trip up Jesus.  They seem like tattle tales as they point out that the disciples did not wash their hands before they ate.  Really, Pharisees?  I can see Jesus's annoyance.  They weren't concerned about what they were eating.  They were just looking for a way to make Jesus look foolish.

And in typical Jesus fashion, he turned the tables and pointed out their heart condition to them.

To me, it seems these days that we overly concerned about our outside appearances.  We diet.  We exercise.  We try our best to look good.  

But how much do we work on our inside?  The country is concerned with the epidemic of overweight children.  Are we as worried about sarcastic and disrespectful children?  (If we were, The Simpsons would have been cancelled a long time ago). Even more than exercise programs (which do have some value), I would love to see classes that train children -- of all ages -- in kindness, especially kindness of the mouth.  

Because that's a fruit that will never go bad -- not even after 5 seconds on an unwashed floor.