RAINY days and laundry can be a dreadful combination, but the Lord found a way today of reminding me of His plans for us, even in the midst of such a mundane chore as washing clothes.
It all began when I noticed ‘dye’ stains on several of our bath towels. Now, these towels aren’t anything special, but I hate ruining perfectly good towels, so I dug down deep to find the non-color fast culprit.
Sure enough, there it was: one of my new dish towels.
The bright colors that had cheered me while drying the sink were now permanently ‘tattooed’ to the cotton fibers of my poor little bath towels. As I mentally grumbled, a thought danced into my spirit, as though the Lord had whispered it. “If you had separated this new towel from the others, your bath towels would be fine, untinged, unchanged. But because the kitchen towel suffered through the pounding of the agitator and the dizzying pace of the spin cycles, the ‘true colors’ of that small towel affected the larger, fluffier ones.”
Now, the Lord God Almighty didn’t literally say those words, but that’s what I ‘heard’ in my spirit, and it hit home. That proud little kitchen towel, bright and cheerful, and pristine, had ‘bled’ its true colors under pressure: agitation, running in circles, and finally scorching heat. Only this pressure had forced the towel to release a bit of ‘itself’ in the midst of the crowd.
As Christians, we may be tempted to keep to ourselves, to remain separate, a bit like my little kitchen towel in the drawer. But our cheerful smiles, bright colors, and pristine lives, remain starched, pressed, and seldom used if we remain in that drawer. Even when we move into the world, we all too often stay with others like us–in small, comfortable, Christian groups.
But if we wish to serve Him, then we must be willing to ‘get dirty’, and to suffer through agitation, tragedy, and refiner’s fires. Only then will we release our ‘true colors’. Our lives must ‘bleed’ into the minds and hearts–into the very fibers–of those whom God brings into our lives. Christ’s precious blood has washed us white as snow, and we have been forever changed. Our ‘colors’ come from Christ living through us.
Have you ‘dyed’ today? Christ died and bled for each one of us. Your life may be the only witness your classmate, your neighbor, your teacher, your enemy may ever see.
What are your ‘true colors’?
Imagine my surprise while reading your story of the dish towel after I had just viewed the effects of an Oklahoma hailstorm on the afternoon of 5-17-10! As you described the wash cycle, my mind saw the just viewed baseball-sized hail making huge splashes in a backyard pool while the person making the video exclaimed, “My God”, many, many times. The whole effect was to completely cement your spiritual lesson in my heart. I know Who orchestrated that for me. Thanks for sharing what the Holy Spirit imparted to you.
Isn’t it remarkable what the Lord uses to teach us lessons? His voice echoes all around us, if we’ll only listen. Denise, are you in Oklahoma? Are you all right?
Actually, I’m a transplanted Texan happily rooted into Idaho, but we know people in Oklahoma as well as Texas. I keep tabs on the weather that effects them for prayer concerns. I found the home video on one of my daily blog stops. It does, in retrospect, read as if I viewed it personally, but, thank the LORD, it didn’t. However, having been in one almost as bad some years ago, the reality of the above mentioned 5-17-10 storm brought back some vivid memories. Thank you for your concern.
Isn’t it remarkable what the Lord uses to teach us lessons? His voice echoes all around us, if we’ll only listen. Denise, are you in Oklahoma? Are you all right?