Hung Out To Dry

I do some stupid stuff at times! This is from June 1, 2013. With school out and vacation at hand, I sat down and made a list of things I need to do before my two big events of the summer, our family reunion in Arkansas and my third mission trip to Can Tho, Vietnam. I'm not a big list maker- this will probably be the only one I construct this year. This one will get longer. I'm up to #32 but it probably will climb to 50-60 in the next several weeks. Number four on the list involved going to the dry cleaners. I own seven suits and only two had been cleaned in the past year, for Charlotte/Tyler's wedding which I performed and for a speaking engagement in St. Louis for the CFS Dinner. I bundled them up after checking for stains- there were several-  and deposited them at Ivory Cleaners (located at the corner of Beechnut and Hillcroft in SW Houston- two thumbs up!) I very neatly put them on hangers but as I soon as I turned them in, the nice lady threw all the jackets in one trash bag and all the pants in another after marking the stains with little pieces of red tape. The bill was $39.00, not bad for a years-plus worth of Sundays and special occasions. I picked them up on Thursday. (I have to admit I love watching those racks with all the shirts and pants and coats and whatever go around- I'm easily entertained!)

So now I've got seven cleaned and pressed suits hanging in my closet in that nice plastic wrap that they apply so perfectly. The problem is, I don't want to get them out of the wrapper and wear them. Then they'll get dirty and lose their creases and they won't be perfect anymore. If I keep them hung up, I won't have to go back to the Ivory Cleaners, even though they do a very nice job.  That's how we live our lives sometimes. When we get involved in other folks' lives and problems, it gets messy and sometimes the mess gets on us. In the past several days, I did something I'm uncomfortable doing but I did it for a friend and it was something that needed to be done. And, of course, when I was finished with my small level of involvement, I was glad I did and ashamed of myself for hesitancy. Like my suits, I need cleaning, both from the neglect of what I should be doing and the guilt of what I ought to abstain from but let myself be lured into. David's plea to the Lord after his sin with Bathsheba still hits home about several millennia: 
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 
(Psalm 51:10, KJV)
We need the cleaning, we need the renewing, and we will for the remainder of our days. We can't just stay wrapped up in plastic like my suits and besides, I'm pretty sure I'd still find a way to sin. And I wouldn't even have to add it to my list to get it accomplished. Good thing the Lord keeps no list of my wrongs; He'd be way past #32!

Applicable quote of the day:

“A hearty laugh gives one a dry cleaning, while a good cry is a wet wash”

Puzant Kevork Thomajan  God bless, Steve Luke 18:1 www.hawleybooks.com E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com