A 'flower' in my world is a little pulling away of the veil as God hands me a bit of understanding through something ordinary that I am in the midst of. A little gift of insight, a revelation...a fresh flower!
The Heart-Washer
a fresh flower original
by lani renee wiens
We have a dishwasher issue. We're not sure if it's us, our plumbing, our a bad run of dishwashers. We've had a couple of second-hand dishwashers for which we are really thankful. They all start out working well and then within a month or two they are throwing yucky stuff all over our dishes and often there are things that come out dirtier than they went in.
They other day I was unloading and noticed that there was a cup that had some bits on it and rather than putting it by the sink to re-wash I just stuck it in the back of the cupboard, knowing that whenever that cup would get set on the table it would get to the sink to be re-washed. I just didn't feel like dealing with it just then. (cue the violins....here comes the flower)
I do this quite often and you probably do, too. Something is stirred up in your heart, something not pretty that really should be cleaned up. But rather than dealing with that unsightly bit, we slide it to the back of the cupboard thinking we'll take care of that particular sin....later.
And 'later' will come, won't it? That cup/sin will most likely get set down in front of a guest, embarrassing me and leaving me to explain how a cup that dirty could have possibly been in my cupboard. It will leave me back-pedaling and red-faced, possibly even lying to cover my tracks. How much easier would it have been if I had simply washed the cup immediately and set it in the cupboard clean and ready for the next use?
We humans like to turn away from the reality of our situation. We like to defend our dirt. This is NOT what our Father has in mind for us. His desire is that we approach him with clean hands and a clean heart, and he knows that we don't scrub behind our ears every day...so in his mercy and grace, he cleans us up. His heart-washer is much better than the machine I use to try and clean my dishes.
We can be company ready as we humble ourselves under His mighty hand and submit ourselves to a little heart-washing! Because we don't want to be like the Pharisees in Luke 11 that were clean on the outside because of their rituals and laws and were filthy and wicked on the inside.
"Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up." (1 Peter 5:6)
"Create in me a clean heart." (Psalm 51)
Announcement of Winners
Naked Lotion Bar - Stephanie
Silk Moisturizer - Marie
Riverstone Studios will be sending those directly to you, so I will need your mailing addresses to pass on to them!! Stephanie that e-mail that you left didn't work!
6 comments:
Fabulous!!!!
Wonderful!!
And God speaks through dirty cups...just like you and me. Love you, friend!
Well Lani. I related all to well to this post and I liked it not a bit. ;) Actually BOTH parts of it, the dishwashing AND the sin issue. I have to hand wash my dishes and occasionally I will push a sink of water past it's expiration date. I go back a few moments later to dry and put away but find dishes washed in cool dirty water don't get clean. I have to start over. Hmmm...Spiritual analogy there as well.
Thank you for giving me this flower to think over as I rewash my dishes.
Love how God can use mundane moments to teach us valuable lessons. Thanks for sharing, Lani!!!
Such a great "flower". Love it! It's true too for me. I push things aside all the time hoping that later it will magically disappear or become beautiful, not wanting to do the work myself. If I ignore it it will disappear, right? Not. Thanks for sharing.
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