Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever! Praise be His Holy and Venerable Name! Praise Him, who was, is, and is to come. Praise Him in the morning; praise Him in the noontime. Praise Him when the sun goes down!
Thank You, Lord, for all thy benefits. Thank You for the heat and the cool, for the ups and the downs, for everything! Thank You for reminding us to rely on You for all things. Thank You for the trials that make us stronger in faith and trust. Thank You for being with us and never letting us go!
Forgive me Lord, for the times I forget, the times I doubt, the times I am short-sighted. Forgive me Lord for my grumbling and complaining when I think I know how things should have, could have gone or predict how they will go. Forgive me for my lack of discipline in listening for Your guidance and direction when I get “caught up” in the ways of the world or my own ways.
Have you ever pondered about something very ordinary, and just know there is something more? Recently, during my weekly time of sitting quietly to listen for His still small voice, an image popped into my head. The image was of a cleaning rag being wrung out. I had been at a prayer meeting where a lady had used a similar image to explain how we can be used by God, but this was different. My attention was on the wrung out part of the image.
I began pondering a cleaning rag and its need for being wrung. A cleaning rag is refreshed for use by dousing it with water and usually some sort of soap. It is then wrung before it can perform its function well as most cleaning is not done well when our rag is dripping and it may often be counterproductive leaving unsightly streaks or even damage certain surfaces. Perhaps the need to use a doused clean rag can be compared to our need for Baptism, but I was drawn to focus on the wringing out part of it. I was thinking perhaps the wringing out could symbolize trials and suffering, but my prayer partner mentioned that for her it symbolized the need for Confession.
I continued pondering. In my home, we do not have an endless supply of cleaning rags, so we often must use a cleaning rag for cleaning more than one spot. Before the rag can clean the next item or spot, it must often be refreshed again and wrung out again. This reminds me of our use of Holy Water refreshing our souls and Confession, which we can frequent as often as necessary.
When the cleaning rag is refreshed and wrung out after using it once or more times, what is wrung out is usually pretty dirty and the cleaning rag often functions differently than it had the first time, but that is evidence that some sort of cleaning was actually done. Should we not also function differently after Confession?
I am still “chewing on” this image. God’s Word and imagery often need to be pondered, and we can expect that the fullness of His message may not always be understood immediately. I am so grateful that He can speak to me so gently and using imagery to which I can relate. He knows how I learn and what I will remember. He really is the Wonderful Teacher.
Has God used something very ordinary to teach or demonstrate something to you? Do you set aside time to ponder or listen? Someone would love for you to share your stories, your insights, your images.
Photo by Sven Brandsma on Unsplash
