Cleaning up the Splatter

It was our first military social function with the whole family, celebrating Bob's class's graduation from Chaplain School. Most of the children were politely sitting at a table eating. Our youngest, 4 months old at the time, was fussy, so I was holding her as I spoke with a VERY senior officer's wife. I had been holding the baby facing outward as she enjoyed looking at what was going on around her, but her constant squirming required I turn her around to face me. While still attempting to carry on a conversation, my youngest became progressively fussier and fussier until it happened. She looked at me, closed her eyes, and projectile vomited down my front. She then proceeded to fill her diaper. The woman I was talking with never skipped a beat, continued talking, seemingly never noticing what had happened. Given that I was a very new officer's spouse and this woman's husband held the power to make or break my husband's new career, I didn't want to interrupt her. So I motioned to an older child to grab some napkins and attempted to clean up myself, the baby and floor with as much dignity and drawing as little attention as possible.

There was nothing I could have done to prevent or stop what had happened, but I was horrified!

During this Lenten season many Christians are preparing for the celebration of Christ's death and resurrection by taking time to focus on sin. Many will sacrifice something in a practice of self-denial. There are special devotions and services to renew in us an awareness of our own depravity and our need for a Savior so that on Resurrection Sunday we can more fully worship and wonder in our God's amazing love and power.

But many times in life it isn't our own sin that weighs us down. Sometimes we are covered in the splatter of other's sin. We cannot control it. We cannot force people to change. We may have very little input, but other's sinful actions, in-actions, and attitudes cover us in hurt, pain and shame.

Many times those spatters are minor irritations - a willful child, a rude driver, an off-handed remark - which we can easily shrug off. But other times they can drench us and completely weigh us down - a child's addiction, a spouse's infidelity, a back stabbing friend, the rejection of a parent, a corrupt politician, a spiteful employer . We have no control over the situation, we may not have even contributed to it, but it fills us with pain and shame. It weighs us down until we feel we will break under its weight.

During Lent we spend a lot of time focusing on Christ's forgiveness and redemption of our own sin and forget He did it not just for me - but for others too. Christ's redemption of our own sin is amazing, but He came not just to save us from our own transgressions, but to save us from the mess others' transgressions have made as well.  His total grace gives us the strength and mercy we need to forgive and to heal. He can take the splatter, the smelly, weighty, disgusting mess on us from someone else's sin, and completely clean it up so that we are once again fragrant and beautiful in His eyes - and our own as well.

He is the only one who can do it. When my precious baby spoiled my clothes, I was able to get rid of the visible evidence, but the stench and embarrassment remained. That 4 month old could not undo what she had done. She could not clean it up. She wasn't even aware of what she had done!  It is the same with sin. We can try to make ourselves look clean, but we can never forgive and show grace and mercy on our own. On our own, there is no apology, enactment of justice or choice that will ever completely clean up the mess. There will always be an underlying stench that will come back to offend us again.

The only way I was able to be completely clean was to do laundry and take a shower. I needed something else to fully clean up the mess because the tools I had were completely inadequate  In our lives, Jesus has done exactly that. He takes everything that has been soiled by sin, ours and others', and washes it completely clean. Some spots are easy to remove. Others will take a long time and may need multiple treatments, but He will remove them all!  He will remove every stain, spot and speck of dirt no matter how it got there or how ground in it is. He removes our soiled clothes. He provides the soap and detergent to wash it clean. He does the scrubbing, washing, drying and even re-dresses us. We just have to allow Him to do it.

I hear the Savior  say,

"Thy strength indeed is small;

Child of weakness watch and pray,

Find in Me thy all in all"

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

(Jesus Paid It All; Elvina M Hall)