I was ironing some white fabric yesterday for a --in true Grace fashion-- last minute costume for my youth group Christmas party.
The fabric was used for a candy cane costume years ago, and you can still see where the red stripes were sewn on. It's stained, I think the stitching is coming unsewn on the hem and the wrinkles, which were very plentiful, were also very deep-set... probably from cramming it in my sewing container. Anyway.
As I glided the iron back and forth, trying to get those stubborn creases out, I was thinking how it's like us with God.
We are the wrinkley fabric- the stained, the torn, the one with bits of history hanging on. We stubbornly hold on to the "creases" as we simultaneously remind ourselves that if we'd just let go, if we were just stronger or better, we could be turned into something better. A battle raging on.
And then there's God.
He knows it all. Which, if you think about, is pretty crazy. I mean, our minds probably go to things like that "worse" sin most people don't know we struggle with... And that's true, he does know those things- but everything is everything. So along with seeing the stubborn creases and stains, he sees the person--you-- and he wants you because he knows your worth and he loves you.
So he gets to work on us... patiently ironing out the wrinkles, the work of transformation underway. And it may take longer than we'd like, is harder than we anticipated and sometimes it feels like we're running on a dreadmill- our sides are cramping but we haven't moved forward, but he's here. Loving us, desiring us, present.
And here we are. Loved, desired, and faced with a choice.
