Tag Archives: Washing

Stories for Littlies

Why Clean the Shower?

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   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.

Daily Devotionals

How Clean Are You?

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    I’ve just been cleaning down our back deck which faces a stand of tall trees. Not only that, it  doesn’t get the morning sun but only the late afternoon sun  through the trees. As a result, it gets covered with leaves and if left too long, covered in a green gunge as well. I have found that a bleach helps to get the black mould off (with plenty of scrubbing!), and so it is looking pristine clean after this time around. Perhaps one reason that it gets left, is that it is at the back of the house, and no one sees it for long periods of time!

     But while I was scrubbing it down with a broom,  it reminded me of how like our lives, this deck is. Just as it needs constant cleaning, so we need to keep our spirit and soul cleaned regularly before God. The bleach which gets into all the little grooves in the deck makes it all clean and shiny, so this reminds us that it is the work of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives and minds, that reminds us of things which need to be confessed and put right.

    Because it is in the shade for so long each day, the moss and mould begins to grow and make it messy. So we need the constant light of daily Bible readings to keep the moss in our minds at bay. We might think it is too hard to understand, but remember, that just as a sieve doesn’t hold the water in it, the constant washing under the tap keeps it clean. So even if we don’t understand some of it, other things will stick and help keep our minds in the right direction.

    There is nothing like a good clean up to make that back deck look lovely and a joy to behold. So those who keep their lives on the right tracks will be a joy and a help to all those around, to say nothing of having the satisfaction of being in the right relationship with the God of Heaven.

Town and Around

Is it Really Dirty?

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    We had come back from a trip in the motor home where some of the way was down a dusty, rough gravel road. You might wonder why we put up with the jiggles and rattles of that road, but the end result was well worth it….a beautiful, mostly deserted sandy beach, where the fishing was remarkably good!

   We stayed there for several days before rattling our way back to the tarsealed main highway. As usual after several days away, and having unpacked all the perishables, the next job was to wash the bus down. As hubby went around with the long handled broom, I asked if the front had been washed to which he replied yes. So I then asked if the back had needed doing, as it look alright from a distance.

“You’d be surprised how dirty it was,”  he said. “When I put the hose on it, the dust just poured off it!”

“Oh,” I said, “It didn’t look too bad to me!”

“Well, it was, “ he replied, “It certainly needed doing!”

       This just reminded me of how we view ourselves, We look at others and think that we are doing quite a good job of things, that we aren’t as bad as So and So down the street or our neighbours next door. But if we put ourselves under the spotlight of God’s Word, it is surprising how much dirt we find is lurking in the hidden corners or above the window ledges of our minds. It is no use measuring ourselves against others, thinking that you are better than they are. The only measuring stick that is valid for us to see ourselves as we really are, is the measuring stick of Jesus Christ. He is the only perfect human being to ever walk this planet….the rest of us have all been born with the taint of sin on us. This is what has to be dealt with and cleansed out of our lives.

Even if we didn’t do anything really very “wrong”, there is still the fact that we were born with that stigma on us! That is what has to be got rid of, and there is only one way to do that, through humbling ourselves to call out to God, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!”