At first glance, it looks like the cleaning book you wish you'd always had. (Except I had never really wished for that before when it was given to me by my mother-in-law. Cleaning was not a book-worthy subject in my mind at the time!) I put it on the shelf for when I would run into some crazy mess that nothing would clean and it comes out every now and then.
Twice now, this book has failed me. It has succeeded on different occasions, don't get me wrong, but tonight I experienced the second failure of one of the Queen's pieces of imperial knowledge. The Queen Does Not, In Fact, Clean Everything. My pot with the black burned cranberry residue is still black and burned. Don't bother boiling baking soda for as long as it takes.
This brings me to my point, which actually pertains to the walk with Christ. My friend Erika lent me a book by one of my favorite Christian writers, Henri J. M. Nouwen, called The Way of the Heart. A quote really resonated with me:
What needs to be guarded is the life of the Spirit within us. Especially we who want to witness to the presence of God's Spirit in the world need to tend the fire within with utmost care... Sometimes it seems that our many words are more an expression of our doubt than of our faith. It is as if we are not sure that God's Spirit can touch the hearts of people: we have to help him out and, with many words, convince others of his power. But it is precisely this wordy unbelief that quenches the fire. (p. 54)I would never have imagined the great love God has for us. While He does not need us, He deeply loves us. Pursues us. Tends to us. Cares about each and every one. The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus is the "author and perfector of our faith." He has an ongoing role in the story and carefully touches His pen to it.
It wasn't until after I got baptized and shared the news with others that I learned how many people had been praying for me. Thank you to everyone who did. It humbled me to realize that it was not my own feat that accomplished my salvation~~it wasn't my wisdom that brought me to my knees. It is by His grace alone that this was done, and I did nothing to deserve it and everything to sabotage the likelihood, if I'm being honest. I can't express my gratitude adequately. I had no idea what I was missing.
Sometimes I wish I could come up with just the right words to talk everyone I know into following Jesus. But that's not for real. This process is not The Queen Cleans Everything, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Thankfully, it does not rely on my inadequate communication skills in this arena. God's Spirit does the job, and what I have learned from walking with Jesus is that it is not a sometimes thing. It is not "sometimes going to work" and "sometimes not going to work," the way He involves Himself with us. He is always there and always working on my behalf to invite me to greater freedom and joy than I have ever known and I can completely trust in that. How likely would we be to keep saying "yes" if He sort of kind of showed up every now and then and sometimes nailed the cleaning task but just as often failed? He is a faithful companion, shepherd, and savior. It's up to each person to say "yes."
"He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." (John 10:2-3)
Painting by Nathan Greene
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