Lessons Learned from my Neurosis

So I have company coming over tonight...

It isn't the kind of company one must make a good first impression on, nor even the kind of "mild acquaintances" that could still be swayed by the slightest thing out of place or gone awry.

This is the kind of company that have (has?) seen me at my worst... for they are all the ladies of our annual family camping week at Fairhaven. Now when I mean they have seen me at my worst... just think Lake Ontario with hair all sea weed-y and mascara running off my face. Think the nightly run to the community restrooms to emerge in camping night time attire... aka. MEGA HUGE AND WARM sweat pants and hoodie. Think my husband loves me no matter what so to prevent the mascara running off my face tomorrow, today and every day thereafter I will forgo makeup.

So... why do I have the compulsion to reorganize all my bathroom cupboards in the upstairs bath? Why did I go around my kitchen baseboard with a knife to get up all the junk that collects there between the floor and the trim? WHY. OH.WHY. did I look at the inside of my washing machine with renewed interest and concern? Can I tell you these women will not even think to ask if they could toss in a load of laundry to ease my wifely chores for the day!!!

But in all of this hullabaloo, I learned something. The laundry soap that I faithfully use in every load to get my clothes clean and smelling fresh ...TOTALLY GUNKS UP MY MACHINE!!! What's up with that? My clothes should be flame retardant with all the gel that must be built up on them from all these washings!!! I am at this very moment running an EXTRA- HOT- EXTRA- LONG EMPTY cycle with plain old water to try and eliminate some of this junk!

Now... on to the lesson...

Have you gone into a Christian book store lately? If you have, amidst all of the "3 minute devotional" and "just a little prayer'll do ya" and "ten minutes to finding complete peace with God" books, did you happen to look for a Bible and actually have a hard time finding the three shelves that are devoted to them? Sad, huh?

That gunk in my washer got me to thinking, how much do I add to my life to help me clean it up, make it look sparkly and white as can be, and actually all it is doing is gunking me up and taking time away from what is really important?

I think I need to focus on some extra-hot-extra-long cycles with some plain, old, water.

The plain truth from The Old Book that is a spring of living water.

My mom once told me a story of a boy and his loving and wise old grandfather. The old man asked the boy to get water from a nearby stream, and proceeded to give him a dirty old basket for the fetching. The boy ran to the stream, and try and try as he may, he could never manage to get back to his grandfather with out losing most of the water through the small holes between the reeds. Before the boy got too frustrated, his grandfather stopped him and explained his object lesson.

"You see, son, because you are so young, sometimes reading God's Word feels alot like trying to fetch water with a holey basket. It might seem pointless and of absolutely no earthly benefit. But take a look at that basket in your hands. While there might not be much water left within, as it was passing through - it sure made that one clean basket."

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Ephesians 5:26-27

ps. After thinking on this a little longer, I missed a very unintended analogy. While I may think my clothes are flame retardant from the build up of detergent-they aren't. Neither is a soul "flame-retardant" from a build up of spiritual filler and fluff. Only with a full fledged conversion and life changing encounter with Jesus Christ can one escape hell!