Bobby and Betty were playing ball outside on a winter’s day. The ground was quite wet and it wasn’t long before the ball was covered in mud. The next shower came and they went inside for a drink.
“Bobby!” exclaimed Mum, “Just look at your hands and your clothes! You are covered in mud!!” “That’s alright, Mum”, Bobby said, “It’ll wash off!” and he reached out for the drink that Mum had ready. “Bobby!” Mum said sternly, “That’s no way to talk! Don’t you know how much work it takes to get your clothes clean?”
Betty came bounding into the kitchen just then. “Betty!” Mum exclaimed, “Whatever have you been doing? You’re so grubby!” “I’ve been playing ball with Bobby!” Betty said (as though Mum couldn’t tell!) “Well, you’d better both go and have a shower and put clean clothes on as soon as you’ve finished your drinks”, Mum said.
“I’m going first!” Bobby said, as he gulped down the last of his drink and went off to the bathroom. “You make sure you wipe the shower box out with the spray cleaner when you’ve finished”, Mum called after him. “Why do we have to wash the shower box out?” Betty asked, “It’s clean water”. “Well”, Mum said, “there’s the dirt that comes off you, and the soap has a certain amount of grease in it, so the splashes inside the shower get thicker and thicker until it looks like a greasy scum over the whole thing. That is VERY hard to get off. It’s much easier to keep it clean all the time”.
“That’s right”, said Dad as he came into the kitchen catching the last bit of conversation. “You know it’s just like the little bad things that we do and say every day. If we don’t keep telling God that we are sorry for these things and ask Him to help us do better next time, we end up being mean and nasty all the time. It’s not a good idea to be like that! It’s much better to do it every day.”
This little story has a great application for each one of us. We all need to confess our shortcomings to God every day. Just as we need to constantly shower and wash our bodies, so we need to constantly clean our souls, This can only be done by confession of the wrong and repentance (which means turning away from it). We cannot do this on our own, but only with the help from Above. This is another reason for a daily prayer time.
