Cleansing and The Color Gray

Someone very dear to me is going through a very painful transition. I shared this with them and I felt led to post it in case some of you need it too:

Cleansing

God gave me a neat picture a few years ago when I was in great pain over losing my baby. He showed me, standing in the shower, crying... letting the tears, the pain, the anger, the heartache, just go down the drain. Since then the shower/tub has been more than a place to wash my hair or shave my legs. It remains the place where I allow Him to cleanse me, my heart, my mind, my whatever, all down the drain. Maybe that will be a blessing to you as you have tub soaks and take a shower... I also try to remember when I brush my teeth to keep my mouth clean of yucky stuff I might want to say at any given moment :).

The Color Gray

A writing assignment on "color" written on a gray cloudy day when I could find nothing good to focus on - then, as I began writing, God deposited something amazing (at least I think so :)) right in front of me.

What does gray taste like?

Bland food. Gray tastes like the stuff you eat when you have been throwing up or have the runs. Or what you taste when you have a sinus infection and can’t taste anything.

What does gray feel like?

Soft. I think of the softness of my little gray bunny, Annabelle I had when I was a kid. Or the soft feathers of a mama bird she uses to cover her eggs.

What does gray look like?

A backdrop for beauty. It is the color that serves other colors. There is a backdrop of gray today, making all the other colors stand out more than on a bright sun-shiney day. I love gray for that reason. Everything else’s color is emphasized by the soft gray color in the sky.

What does gray sound like?

It sounds like a whisper. No understandable words, just a quiet hint of communication, a gentle nudge in a general direction or a still message about a path to peace.

What does gray smell like?

Fresh. When the deep gray clouds drop rain on the earth there is a freshness that comes. The brown of the dust, the yellow of the pollen, the blackness of the soot/exhaust, all must submit to the outpouring of the gray clouds and be refresh the air we breathe.

Can you ever just be "whelmed"?

That line is in one of my favorite sarcastic movies, "Ten Things I Hate About You". It is a "modern day version of Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare". Often I am OVER-whelmed. So much to do, so little time, and depending on the day, so little energy!
However, OVER implies too much and yet according to the Bible, as a Christ Follower, I am MORE than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). What is MORE than a conqueror? That sure sounds like a lot!

So, since I am already MORE than a conqueror, then I must be able to handle being OVER-whelmed. Maybe that is the weapon the enemy of my soul (satan)uses the most in my life. It only takes 5 minutes to unload the dishwasher. How in the world could that be OVER whelming?

UNDER-whelmed only happens occasionally - when I stay up late to watch a favorite show and it ends dumb or I try a new hairstyle that looks ridiculous, or when I don't do what I love by cooking ahead for my family and have to cook out of a box, now THAT is UNDER-whelming!

So maybe, like with the task of unloading the dishwasher, if I just DID what I need to do instead of contemplating for an hour how OVER-whelmed I am, maybe, just maybe I might find out what it is like to just be "whelmed"! :)

How do you see the Cross? Part 1

A few years ago my pastor preached a series on this subject. Easter Sunday morning the concept came flooding back as I was contemplating the Cross.

I think there are three places we can be in relation to the Cross.

First, we can see it from a distance… twenty or so yards off… highlighted against a brilliant sunset or a dark cloudy day - that shape can’t help but draw our attention. We acknowledge that it exists, we know what happened on it and we might even know it is empty but we just can’t seem to approach it. Whether our feelings of inadequacy, the shame of sin - current or distant past, or just our fear of what it would mean to acknowledge our need for more than ourselves - we just can’t seem to get there.

But there is a way….

Second, we stand or kneel or even lie face down at the foot of the Cross. We are overwhelmed by our sin, inadequacies, continual failures that just reflect how damaged we are. We are devastated by how undeserving we are of Christ’s death to save us. We believe that only humble repentance at the foot of the Cross can really save us from our despair and the damage that has been done to us or that we have done to others. We can’t seem to leave the foot of the Cross.

But there is a way…

Third, we can walk beyond the Cross to the other side. Leaping forth into what the empty Cross represents. Putting to death the old and embracing the new. Reaching for the abundant life promised to us by the only One who could love us enough to die on that Cross. On the other side of the Cross we are bound for our destiny on this earth while grasping the truth that we are seated with Him in heavenly places.

This is the way!