The Washing

Ecclesiastes 3:1, For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

I pulled the soft pink jacket off of the hook by the front door and helped my child slide her arms into the sleeves. The coat was a disgusting mess and in need of a good turn in the washing machine, so I had done just that the night before.

Now clean once again and dry, my daughter stood happily wearing her pink coat. We had places to go and people to see so I shuffled us off out the garage door. As my daughter took her foot off the last step, she reached out for the car and leisurely rubbed the left side of her coat down the length of the car until she reached the back car door. Dirty grey and black marks had transferred themselves from the car onto her freshly washed coat.

Lifting her into her carseat, I shared with my child that I was not amused. In a string of rash words, I peppered her with the question, “Why on earth did I bother to wash the coat in the first place if you were just going to muck it up again?”

And there, standing within the dimness of my dirty garage, the Holy Spirit spread its milky warmth over my dirty soul.

Beloved, why did I bother to wash your soul clean in the first place if you were just going to muck it up again? Why do I do it over and over? Seventy times seven.

No matter the situation, no matter the circumstance we find ourselves in, no matter how dirty our souls- our minds and emotions- whether anger gets the best of us or we stray from the straight and narrow, Jesus is there to wash us clean.

You know that feeling you get when crawling into a freshly made bed? It’s nothing compared to a freshly washed soul. But the washing takes time. Like my child’s coat had to make its way around the agitator of the machine, we too must be roughed up a little in order to work the dirt out. We too must hold up to the harshness of the world in order to be scrubbed clean.

We know for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. We must learn that there is a process to the unearthing of every season, and a preparation for every matter that comes at its appointed time. We all have our moments where we are in need of a good washing. There is a process to the washing, and great measures of preparation in order to keep clean.

Father, we praise you for you faithfulness to make us shiny new; your faithfulness to make us clean again and again. And again. Prepare us for the process keeping every stitch you’ve stitched tightly bound so that we may be washed thoroughly.

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