Clean!

One of my favorite moments in my daily routine comes at the end of the day, just before bed, when I step into the shower.

It is still quite hot here (I weep inside a little at all the facebook statuses and blog posts about fall foliage and bonfires and warm beverages), and between the moment I get up in the morning and the moment my head hits the pillow at night (and sometimes even after that…) a LOT of sweating happens. So picture me, hanging out, sweating…and then compound that with all the sweaty kids in my class. Because they sweat just like I do, and then they go out and run around like banshees during recess. And then they bring all that sweaty stinkiness into my classroom. Suffice it to say that by the end of the school day, I usually smell pretty ripe. (Sorry if that’s a little too real for you!)

I get home from school around 3, but I don’t want to get my shower until bedtime, mostly so that it cools my body temperature down to help me fall asleep. That means I’ve got another 8 solid hours of smelliness – not cool. So, by the time I’m ready for my shower, I am more than ready to be clean. There’s the initial shock of the cool-going-on-cold water when I first get in, but that quickly turns to delight. The cool water feels good on my hot, sticky skin, and amazingly enough, in a few short minutes I have gone from smelling gross to smelling like shampoo and strawberry body wash. A nice exchange if you ask me.

It struck me today in the shower that this is a great metaphor for what Christ did for us. I know, it sounds trite and overused, and technically isn’t really a metaphor. Because I know him as Savior, Christ did actually “wash” me with his blood. But hear me out: showering in the States, at least for me, is not a hugely transformative thing. Unless I’ve just had a crazy workout, I’m not usually that smelly when I get in the shower. Here in Haiti, I’m gross, every day without fail. But by the time I step out of the shower, all of that putrescence is washed away. There’s a huge change in how I look, smell, and feel.

Washing is not a huge deal if you’re not that dirty. But when you’re as dirty as I get every day, it is a total transformation. Spiritually speaking, before I knew Christ, I was filthy. Gross. Not fit for anyone’s company. Even today, though I’ve trusted Christ, I’m still jacked up and sinful. I can be prideful and petty. I’m bad at trusting God to provide the things I need. But he gently and faithfully washes me clean with his grace and love.

[Neither] thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Cor. 6: 10-12

Thanks be to God for His precious gift.