16 September 2008

Magic Cleaning Stuff

Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow

My little friend, C.C, was here this morning. She comes to me a few days a week; her mom drops her off around a quarter-till-eight, then at eight-thirty-ish, we head over across the street, to the end of the block, to the main entrance of the elementary school building. I always ask her if she’d like to have some breakfast with me. She usually opts for a “snack”, since of course she has breakfast at home. This morning, she chose cherry jello.

The children in our school district are required to follow a newly imposed dress code. Color choices are navy, tan (khaki) and white. This morning C.C. was wearing a navy skirt, white stockings and a white blouse. Yup, you guessed it, a blop of red jello landed right onto her blouse. Yikes! Her blouse is stained. I can’t let her go to school like that. I’m the grown-up, I should have known better than to give-in and let her eat red jello while sitting on the sofa! I’m in big trouble now!

I got the idea to blot the stain with a bit of bleach. So I called her into the kitchen where I keep some under the sink in a spray bottle, shot some onto a paper towel, and started to dab at the stain. “It’s not working”, she said. “Just give it a chance,” I replied as I kept blotting. In less than a minute, sure enough, the stain went away. She looked at me in amazement and said, “it’s gone! I can’t even see it!” She thinks I have magic stuff in that bottle. I really impressed her when I used the hair dryer to dry her blouse. So this morning, in her sparkling big brown eyes, I was the hero; I came to the rescue with my magic cleaning stuff and my blow dryer.

This is what happens when God forgives us of our sins. He cleanses our robes with the blood of Jesus, making them whiter than snow. The stains sin has made are gone. His magic cleaning stuff blots them away. Along the way, we may make bad choices. However, we can turn to the magic cleaning stuff: confession through prayer, and we’ll be cleansed and renewed. When we see the power of His forgiveness in our lives, we will look to Him in the same child-like amazement and say, “it’s gone! I can’t see it anymore.”

Scriptures:

Psalm 51:10
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me

Psalm 119:133
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.

Ezekiel 36:25
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

2 comments:

  1. Oh I like that. That was fun to read. I am glad to hear things are going well with CC. We can learn a lot from a child's innocence, we just need to watch and listen with our hearts.

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  2. thanks for your comment, t.
    yes, she's fun.
    i've started to get her to say grace before we have our breakfast/snack. it's interesting to hear the things she says -- an insight to her world.

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