Photo credit: Free-images.com
Our son, Michael, worked in the kitchen of one of Yellowstone National Park’s lodges for a summer when he was in college. Sometimes he was asked to put his terrific culinary skills to use, and other times he was assigned the task of washing pots and pans. The lodge fed hundreds of people every day; you can imagine the massive quantity of food that was prepared, and cookware used, to feed that many people! At the end of the summer, he shared with us some insight he’d gotten while washing all those pots:
During his shift, Michael’s task was to wash the never-ending stream of dirty pots and pans. He settled into a kind of rhythm, accepting each pan as it arrived, one after another. He washed it, rinsed it, and then set it on the rack to be used again. Wash, rinse, rack; wash, rinse, rack, over and over again for hours. He knew that those pots would be cooked in again, and he’d get them back to wash again, maybe several times before his shift was over. He didn’t get frustrated by any of this. This was his job: Take a pot and wash it, take the next pan and wash it, one after the other, again and again and again.
Michael realized that this is how God accepts us when we ask Him to forgive us. We ‘get dirty’ – we do or say something that we know was hurtful. Or, we fail to act, or fail to speak up, when doing so would have been a loving or helpful thing to do. We feel sorry, we go to God and humbly ask Him to forgive us, and He forgives us. He ‘washes us clean.’ We’re freed from our burden and are inspired to do better. Then, after a time, we fail again and we go back, bringing our heavy hearts to Him once more, asking for mercy – and He forgives us again. He doesn’t condemn us or get frustrated with us. He doesn’t expect us to stay ‘clean’ forever. He welcomes us every time we go to Him, sins and all, and then He forgives us, again and again and again. He lets us start over. He gives us a second chance, and a third, and a millionth, forever. Kind of like that steady stream of dirty pots and pans that Michael washed, as many times as we sin and then ask God for His mercy and forgiveness, He forgives us.
God’s unending mercy gives us hope and inspires us to try to do better. And when we fall short once more and return to Him, He forgives us, again, so we can start over, again, with renewed hope and inspiration.
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever.” – Psalm 118:1
“Lord, thank You for forgiving me, time and time again.
Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell Comments are always welcome!
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