DO YOUR JOB!!!

If you're offended by the word "poop", please do not continue reading...


What do you do with a product that is no longer doing its job?


We bought Arm & Hammer's version of a Diaper Genie when Ava was born (16 months ago) and it is no longer functioning properly [which is most likely the understatement of the millennium on however many galaxies we have now].


Let me put it this way: if this thing used to be called an "Arm & Hammer", it has now turned into a "Limp Wrist & Wet Noodle". The "Arm" is officially in atrophy and the "Hammer" has fled from the blistering odor of my child's poop.


This is a product that supposedly masks the smell of dirty diapers and keeps your baby's room smelling fresh and clean. 


It does not do that anymore.


Not by a long shot.


Our child's room reeks of poop diapers. Every single time I walk in there I feel like I'm being punched in the face by poop. I'm not trying to sound gross, but if you're going to get my point, I must be frank about this.


The smell of poop has saturated the room. 


I believe that close inspection will reveal that the blue walls of Ava's room are slowly turning brown. I believe that if I ran my finger along the inside of the faux Diaper Genie, I would have a finger-full of goo that smells exactly like fecal matter. I'm pretty sure that if I walked into her room with my mouth open and inhaled deeply...I would be knowingly committing suicide. 


I honestly think that a grown man (let's say Mike, from "Swamp People") could use the bathroom (#2) directly into the Diaper Genie...multiple times perhaps...and it wouldn't smell any more like poop than it does right now. 


Brooke can't even change the diaper bag anymore because she is afraid that she will pass out, drop our child, bang her head on the corner of the changing table, and wake up after a fecal-induced coma that has caused her to miss Ava's 4th birthday party. 


"Mommy! Wake up! I got a new bicycle!"


I really don't understand it. We have put fresh baking soda into that thing several times; we have regularly changed the bags; we have kept the lid closed; we have sprayed enough air freshener in that room to disinfect a cow pasture; we have even put air fresheners INSIDE the diaper genie (which I'm pretty sure it has eaten).


What do you do with something that was supposed to HIDE the smell of poop and is now RADIATING it? 


What good is it? 


It is now a glorified, poop-scented trash can. 


You might say, "Jeremy, why don't you buy a new one?"


I'll tell you why. 


Because I already bought that one. 


And I'm mad at it. 


At this point, I think our child's room would smell less like poop if we just got rid of the Diaper Genie-knock-off and just started smacking the poop diapers against the wall and letting them dry and harden there. 


Strangely enough, this reminds me of something that Jesus said once. He said that His followers were the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world". That means that we have a very specific job to do that no one else can/will do.


We are supposed to be different. We are supposed to "flavor" and "illuminate" our sinful and fallen world. 


So what happens when Jesus' followers are no longer doing their job? Probably the same thing that happens when my diaper pail quits doing ITS job...we become completely worthless.


These are basically the words that Jesus uses for us when we stop being "salt" and "light" in a tasteless and dark world. We are good for nothing. We might as well be thrown into the garbage. Read Matthew 5:13 and tell me that I'm exaggerating.


Not only is my diaper pail NOT doing its job...but it has now taken on the odor of the one thing that it was supposed to improve. 


Not only have some Christians stopped proactively following Jesus, but they look, act, talk, and "smell" like the very world that so desperately needs them to be different.


It is damaging, disobedient, and quite frankly...disgusting.


Why don't we stop pretending that filling ourselves with "dirty diapers" isn't going to change the way we "smell"? 


Why don't we stop pretending that as long as we have the right "label", we are doing our job, as Christians?


Why don't we take an honest look at ourselves, as followers of Jesus, and ask whether or not we are destined for the garbage?


Something to think about...for all of us. 


By the way, I've got a well-used, broken-in, semi-dependable Arm & Hammer diaper pail that I'm trying to sell...cheap.


Do you think I should've mentioned that first?