Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart and put a new and right Spirit within me.”
When our children were in middle school and high school and Virginia was working, I found that occasionally it was my job to wash clothes. I was not given clear instructions as what to wash with what. I would just collect the clothes and wash them. I discovered that some were not meant to be washed and some were certainly not to be washed with other colors and some were not meant to be dried in a dryer. Who knew? I changed white shirts to red, I shrunk sweaters, and I created all kinds of clothing chaos for the women in my life. The good news is that they started washing their own clothes. Now there is a start-up company called Unshrinkit. It claims to have the science to restore your sweaters that have gotten shrunk in the wash. The chemicals in their formula relax the wool fibers that tense up. They say they are working on a formula that works for cottons next. I love their ingenuity, but I think an even better project would be to help people who have a “shrunken” heart. The “fibers” of our souls are made to love and be loved. But when we allow greed and selfishness and anger in, the fibers tense up, and our heart gets smaller and smaller and harder and harder. The bigger and cleaner you keep your heart the better life will be. Perhaps a good daily prayer would be the prayer of the psalmist who said, “Create in me a clean heart and put a new and right Spirit within me.” God will always answer that prayer. When you have a pure heart, it is then that Jesus promises you will be able to see God.
Shrunken Laundry
November 18, 2015