During the summer of 2009, Nate and I moved to Michigan and rented a storage garage for some serious possession- overflow. Three months later, we’d pared things down at the cottage and managed to empty the storage unit. So that afternoon I drove back to the facility to turn in my lock and key, hoping to get my deposit back.

The woman behind the desk said, “Is the unit completely empty?”

“Yes.”

“Did you sweep it out thoroughly?”

“Was I supposed to?”

“Yes,” she said, pointing to the corner. “There’s a broom you can use.”

I was in a hurry that day but wanted my deposit back, so thought I’d better give the unit at least “a lick and a promise.” Walking toward #35, I was grumbling to myself when God brought me up short, convicting me with Scripture. It was the verse about doing every task “as unto the Lord,” and of course he reminded me that this included sweeping out a dingy storage unit.

Although the woman couldn’t see me or #35 from where she sat and would never know whether I swept it or not, God was watching. Before I got to the unit, I began to understand he’d just given me a golden opportunity to make a deposit into my heavenly-treasure account. The only choice was to take up his challenge.

After opening the heavy metal door, I began swinging the broom with gusto, reaching up to the ceiling for cobwebs, down the walls for dust bunnies and across the floor for everything else. Not one leaf, twig, clump of dirt or bit of sand was left in that unit when I was finished. After yanking down the door, I swept the asphalt outside until #35 looked better than any of the other units. It was as clean as a whistle.

I returned the broom, telling the woman it had been swept, and she refunded my $25.

A year and a half later (i.e. last week), Nelson was back at that same rental counter, needing storage for two truck-loads of stuff. As the woman behind the desk handed him a lock and key, she said, “Turn right around the office, then go left and half way down. Unit #35.”

And it was as clean as a whistle.

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10)