I was getting some vegetables ready to cook for a potluck the other day.  I placed them in a colander and rinsed them off.  A crazy thought came into my mind.  Life is like sitting in a colander sometimes.

I look at my life and realize that I’m covered in dirt from my living.  When I make bad choices I end up dirty, in a state I’d rather not be in.  I know this plight very well, we’re old friends in fact.  I end up here when I make hasty decisions or ones that I wanted to make because I thought this is what would make me happy.  There’s nothing more sobering than making a decision based on wants and later finding yourself miserable.

Another place quite familiar is the one of carrying around my burdens.  Why is it so easy to throw all the things that are bothering me into my backpack and sling that sucker up onto my back?  That backpack has felt like it weighed hundreds of pounds at times throughout my life.  Those burdens, the things that just won’t seem to go away because I’m hurt or someone I love is going through something or countless other mishaps that can occur in our lives, hop right onto me, causing me to feel overwhelmed by the bugs in my garden, threatening to consume all I’ve worked so hard to produce in the first place.

I don’t like it much that sometimes it’s way too easy to further complicate my soiled condition.  I can whine about it; that only compounds my condition and it will last that much longer.  I can go to a friend and try to blame my current spot on someone else; that is so not the way through!  My blaming others now has resulted in me taking my eyes off of what Jesus meant as an area for me to grow in and instead fall into a very ugly place – judgment.  No, God says if we judge others, then we will be judged in the same way.  This only causes me to sit in the colander of my life, motionless, wilting, and still covered in dirt.

As I rinsed my vegetables, I thought about God, the running water of my life.  Clear, cool, refreshing water rinsing through my life.  His cleansing truths rush over me, taking the rocks that have bruised, the dirt that has soiled and the bugs that threatened to devour cleanly out of my life.  I must choose to remain there and allow myself to be cleansed.  My Lord is happy to oblige me for He knows the restrictions I’ve allowed into my life are only serving to impede my progress.

You see, God’s plans are perfect.  He knows the way through the trials, decisions, and heartaches.  But, you see, He is also a gentleman and He will not force me to enter into His cleansing.  No, that decision rests with me.  Completely.  I must initiate the process, I must call out to Him and ask for His help.  I must desire to be rid of the things that are weighing me down, the many things of this world that are retarding my progress.

Just for today I’m making a choice to simply stop.  Yep, the dirt of life is everywhere and I must choose wisely to avoid it.  Instead, I’m going to allow my Papa in heaven to rinse His cleansing love over me.  I don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but today I’m just going to stop and get cleansed. This simple action allows me to get clean and climb on out of that colander because of the price my Savior paid…for me!  Thank you Jesus.