The Stain Lifter

I had a spiritual two by four hit me up side the head this morning. It hurt.

I subscribe to proverbs31.org to enhance my devotions each day. Today's devotional talked about laundry...not a subject that I like to talk about, nonetheless read about. In my opinion, laundry should be a four letter word. But it was a good devotional; one that reminded me that Jesus doesn't mind washing the stains off me each and every day, 24/7. Great. The gospel message. It doesn't get any better than that. Does it? But...

Then came the ouchy part. Somewhere between the words in the devotional, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. "You don't want to be just like the rest of the laundry; you want to be stain-resistant. You don't want to deal with dirty laundry." Now that may sound like a godly desire, and in a sense it is. But, for a recovering perfectionist like me...it's a blueberry stain on a white shirt. And this stain doesn't want to budge.

You see, sometimes it's not enough for me that Jesus died for me and made me stainless in His eyes. I want to be stainless in my eyes, and in the eyes of others. Now this is really painful to admit. Exposing the pride in my life always is. And believe me, I'm feeling a little naked right now. But you know, there is a certain freedom in being naked.

And so today, I choose to be naked. To lay all my laundry out before the Lord, and let Him do only what He can...make me clean. And even lift that blueberry stain.