Sometimes I feel like I’m raising The Odd Couple.

One of my boys is a Type-A, uptight, judgmental, perfectionistic, rule-following, early-bird/neat-freak who always plans ahead and has a memory like a steel trap. My other son has a tendency to be a little more…well, lackadaisical.

I can’t imagine where they get any of these traits from? 🙄🤔 Bless their hearts…and my nerves.🤣

This brotherly dichotomy reveals itself in any number of ways on a daily basis —For example, one puts his dirty clothes in the hamper while the other one has a tendency to put his anywhere but the hamper.

This was particularly evident one Sunday morning as I gathered up the boys’ “church clothes.” As I pulled a shirt from the dresser drawer, a pungent odor invaded my nostrils and my eyes instantly fixated on a large mystery stain tattooed to the front of the garment. It appeared to have been wadded up and shoved back into the drawer after the last time it was worn…which by the look and smell of it, was possibly decades ago. 🙄 The mixture of shock and horror that surged through my entire being can only be described as a combination of an out of body experience and something straight out of a 90’s Tide commercial. However, when I regained consciousness, I conceded there was no time to mourn this casualty of war. And with a weary sigh, I began rummaging around for an acceptable alternative.

After a minute or so, I was thankfully able to find a more suitable article of clothing. This one was a fairly new shirt — it had probably only been washed once, had no stains on it and still smelled as fresh as a daisy. Sounds like a winner to me! 😬

There was only one problem…despite the fact that the shirt was clean, I couldn’t ignore that it was also noticeably wrinkled.

So, I folded down the ironing board and waited for the iron to heat up. As I stood there in the laundry room staring at those wrinkles and thinking of how to tackle that set-in stain, I realized that in some ways, we as humans are all a lot like those shirts.

Just like an ugly stain on a crisp white top, each sin we commit is a blemish, an unsightly spot on the fabric of our lives. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Without the proper stain remover, the shirt with the mystery stain would probably end up discarded, no matter how expensive it was. Likewise, without the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin (I John 1:7), we would be cast out as well (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:15).

But as I ironed, I thought…even clean shirts are oftentimes in need of a little touch up.

You see, Christians may be washed clean, but we still have our wrinkles. We all need God’s grace daily to iron them out as we seek to emulate Christ in our daily lives (I John 2:6, I Corinthians 11:1, Ephesians 5:1-2, Ephesians 4:22-24, John 14:15).

Just like shirts can’t wash or iron themselves (but oh, how I wish they would…😜), neither can we wash or “iron” ourselves. We all have dirty laundry. Come to Jesus, bring Him your set-in stains and your wrinkles, and “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18) Praise God!

Until next time…

-PWAP