"Trust in the Lord with your whole heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will keep your paths straight." Proverbs 3: 5 & 6
If I would ask you to verbalize one of your unique idiosyncrasies, what would you confess? Are your CD’s alphabetized? Do you make sure that there is plenty of distance between various foods on your plate so that nothing touches? Do you need to have the handles of all of your coffee mugs placed in a certain direction when placed in the cupboard? Is your closet organized by color and/or sleeve length? Do you need to have a light on when you sleep or do you need total opposite of complete darkness? As I am typing all these, I am getting a little concerned regarding how many of these traits that I can identify with! However, one additional “quirk” of mine is a clean car. When our white or black car is covered with the residue of winter slush or dirt road dust, it honestly makes my skin crawl! So imagine my joy when the local Jax’s Car Wash revealed the concept of an unlimited monthly membership! “Yes”, I own one, and “No”, I’m sure that they do not make a profit off of me!
However, despite the number of times I frequent the car wash, various daunting thoughts continue to bombard my mind, such as “What if I pull in crooked or my car falls off the track?” “What would happen if I got stuck” or worse… "What if there was a pile up?”
When I verbalize and articulate these thoughts to my husband, he just laughs and shakes his head - until I came home a few months ago professing that one of my worst fears actually happened as I fell victim to a pile up at the car wash!!
Despite the very large sign that warns “KEEP YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKE”, the driver of the very nice car in front of me could not resist the temptation of not being in control. As a result of this person’s lack of trust in the car wash’s system, my car kept bumping into the back of his car, resulting with the car behind me continuously running into me!
Scripture states in Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with your whole heart, and lean not on your own understanding, and in all of your ways, acknowledge Him and He will keep your paths straight.”
Just as trusting the car wash's internal system can be difficult, it can also be difficult to surrender control and let the Lord climb into the driver’s seat of our lives. However, despite our stubbornness and our sinful/selfish nature, God loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to be our Savior.
Lent is the 40 day season of the preparation as we focus on Jesus’ journey to the cross. The season of Lent begins next week on March 5th with Ash Wednesday.
During the season of Lent, St. Matthew will hold Lenten worship services at 7:00 p.m. each Wednesday in Lent; everyone is invited to join us.
Despite my appreciation of a good car wash, the reality is that a car wash only washes the outward dirt and grime away. However, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, our internal sinful nature has been totally
washed clean, and through our faith in Him, we receive the gift of eternal life!
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 1:18
Have a wonderful week knowing how much God loves you!
Mrs. Palka