{Day 129}

I’m going on a trip but this…well this needed to happen first.  I walked into my basement with an armful of dirty laundry and started sorting it into dark and light little mountains yesterday.  I tossed in the first load and left to do other things.  Later when I came down to see how it was going I could tell something wasn’t right with the washer.  It was making a disgruntled sound.  Yes, it decided to quit on me.  So I started to hand wash my clothes and it was right then surrounded by a pile of messy rumpled clothes with my arms sunk deep into the sink that I saw.   I saw how we are people with messy lives and we try to wash ourselves but we just get disgruntled and pretty soon the spinning cycle we are in just has to stop.  I ponder this and pick up my green dress and let the water soak deep and I watch as the water turns the shade of the dress.  And I realize we’re a people who are green with envy.  We covet each others status, looks, wealth, health, personality, family, friends, and the list goes on.  A part of the reason we are discontent is because we compare.  Clear, cold water gushes from the spout and I hold my dress under the stream of liquid so pure.  The water runs through it and makes it clean.  Gradually I gently but firmly wring out the dress.  It is then that I realize again how in my life Jesus is the One who has washed me.  I couldn’t do it on my own.  It takes him to get out the dye, the sin that I must die to.  At times in our lives we feel squeezed but it is the Lord refining us.  Yet just as I reshape my dress and let it be warmed by the sun so God reforms our lives and teaches us about the loving warmth of his Son.  It is in the warmth of his love that we realize we have everything we could ever need or want.  There are times that are difficult for us but in God’s hands we become clean.  The dirt is washed away and fresh abundant life is right there for us.  I  look at my dress.  It’s better than ever and I go into the house smiling because my soul has been washed and I can rejoice in the knowledge that I am clean.

(Picture taken on my mom’s iphone)