Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Washing Clean



This is something that I wrote a few years ago and when I read it the other day it really spoke to me where I am at and felt lead to share it.

Washing Clean

So there I was looking at the daunting task ahead of me... giving the cat a bath. Now maybe if I had a cat that has had baths every week for its whole six years of existence this would not be a problem, but my cat... well let me tell you about my cat. I think my cat is probably the most difficult animal in the world to give a bath to. The neighbors know when you give this cat a bath! Not because you told them, no that would be too easy. They know because they hear sounds not yet known to the human race coming from your upstairs bathroom! You have never heard a cat utter the sounds of sheer death until you have heard my cat! Oh, that's right I was going to tell you about this escapade...

Like I said there I was looking at the cat and trying to get the courage built up to pick him up and take him into the bathroom. Finally after stalling for oh, let’s say... two days I took the cat with me into the bathroom and closed the door behind us. Then I walked over to the tub with the cat in my arms and started the bath water. That was mistake number one. Never, I repeat NEVER hold a cat in your arms while you turn the bath water on! The cat jumped from my arms scratching the skin away from my bones and ran across the bathroom towards the door. I thought to myself "wow that wasn't very smart on my part." I decided to get the water to a good temperature before trying to catch the cat and put him in the tub.

As I got the cat reluctantly into the tub I realized that I had forgotten to grab a cup to help me wash the cat. So I hollered over my shoulder through the closed bathroom door hoping that my voice would project down the stairs to where my husband was cleaning up a mess that our nine week old puppy had made "Hey babe, can you bring me a glass." I heard no reply but had faith that my words had made it to his ears. Moments later the bathroom door opens and there is my knight in shinning armor holding a glass in his hands. He handed the glass off to me and pushed the puppy away with his other hand, as to not bother the already drenched and terrified cat anymore. With the door once again closed I pressed on with my mission to get this cat clean.

I was able to calm him down enough to get him completely covered in shampoo, but then it came time to rinse him off... "Oh, joy!" I picked up the glass and started filling it with water and dumping it over the cat. I did this several times and then all of the sudden it was like someone reached down and smacked the cat on the behind. I mean he just went ballistic! He started yelling bloody murder and was doing flips and flops like I have never seen a cat do before! I put the glass in the corner of the shower on the ledge so I could try and get the cat under control. Then somehow the cat managed to grab the edge of the tub and pull the glass right down into the bottom up the tub. And when it hit, it did what every glass cup does when it meets a hard surface at a fast pace. It shattered into tons of little pieces. That was mistake number two. Never use a drinking glass while giving a cat a bath, unless you enjoy cleaning up broken glass out of a wet bathtub!

So then I swept all of the glass to the far end of the tub with one had while keeping a firm grip on the still rampaging cat. I then grabbed the cat with both hands put my face on the top of his head and shushed him until he calmed back down. I then held the cat and pushed him back and forth under the water facet while trying to keep the broken glass away and finished washing the shampoo off of him.

Finally the nightmare had come to an end; I turned off the water and started squishing the water off of the cat. I pulled the towel hanging on the rack down and wrapped him up in it. Then I took him in my arms and held him for a few minutes to get him the rest of the way calmed down. When I took the towel off of him I noticed that he still had shampoo on the top of his head. I threw my hands up in the air and said... "Oh, forget it!"

After this whole ordeal I have realized something, we children of the Lord are exactly the same as my cat! We are saved by grace into the kingdom of God, and yet when God begins to cleanse us and wash away all of our sins we flip out.

God has an amazing plan for us, he wants to prosper us and give us a great future, but we get in the way. We look at the things that he has for us and we get scared. We try to run away, oh we may not do it intentionally but we do it. We will be so close to breaking through and having victory in some area, but then the refining process gets too uncomfortable so we begin to squirm and then we full on book it out of there. We may even look at what God is offering to us and we pull it down and shatter it until it is no longer an option.

Thankfully God never gives up on us! No matter how many times we squirm, fuss, scratch, kick, scream and runaway; God will not give up on us! He allows us to runaway so that when we do come back we can appreciate it knowing that he really is the BEST way and the ONLY way! I thank God that he has given me a bath and that I can be clean through the grace and mercy of my Lord! And I pray that all of us can recognize that it will be much easier if we would simply submit to his plan!

1 comment:

  1. So true! I always tell God that I am ready for change and then when it comes I pray he would deliver me from it. lol So silly we are! I am so thankful God is patient with us. Great blog!

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