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Last Resort And A Shirt (Valmay Younge)
22 Mar, 2021
It was a Friday morning, 'Preparation Day' as we Seventh-day Adventists refer to the day before The Sabbath. I got up in a very good mood! That morning I had just finished talking with a friend who had called to see how I was doing. I was in a thankful mood just thanking God for how He had been with me throughout my life even though I did not deserve it.It was only a couple of hours before, that I was praying for and with someone who is very dear to me. That person needed to understand and to believe that God is in the storms of life with us. God does not leave us to battle the storms of life alone, He stays with us, throughout, no matter how great or difficult we think that storm maybe. This is so even though we may have placed ourselves in that particular difficult situation. God never leaves nor does He forsake us like we may do Him when we forget that we should always be dependent on Him.
The Shirt
As I took up this one shirt and placed it on the ironing board, I discovered to my horror that there were two brown spots at the front, left side of the shirt. I sighed as I wondered what I should do next. Should I get another shirt? You see, this was a special shirt and I really wanted to be able to wear it on that occasion. Frantically I began to wonder how I was going to repair this damaged situation. My 'Ah ha' moment came when I decided to take the shirt to the bathroom to remove the stain. I remembered that I had bought that new detergent which clearly was labelled, 'Removes all types of stains'.
My memory flashed back to the time when I had a slightly similar experience which required me using that same detergent to wash two spots from another garment and it worked then. Why shouldn't it work now I thought? So I said to myself that I was just going to wash only that place where the spots were visible. To my horror I was forced to sigh aloud when these stubborn stains could still be seen despite my efforts.
Furthermore, I noted that they did not seem to move at all. "They are not moving!" I muttered to myself. Those spots would not move. Becoming desperate, I got a new bar of soap that was made specifically for removing stains and I rubbed as hard as I could on those stains. I rubbed again and again thinking that this soap would do the trick. By this time the minutes were ticking away, and I was running out of time and patience. What would I do next as I really needed that shirt to wear on that occasion?
I was getting kind of frustrated, so I reached for the fabric rust remover next. I thought that maybe those were rust spots in the shirt and not just simple stains. I decided to try the rust remover! I waited to see whether there would be fading in the area applied but there was none. So, I had no way of knowing whether my attempts were successful.
Eventually I was giving up! I thought to myself that I would go to find a completely different outfit when another thought entered my head. "You have tried all these new, expensive and different detergents, why don't you just go and get some old-fashioned bleach liquid that you have been using all these years and put a little dab on each spot. "What if that would ruin the whole shirt?" I thought to myself, but after hesitating for a few moments I decided that it would not hurt to try. Unbelievably the simple bleach liquid worked, in a flash, the spots were gone!
A grin came over my face and then a sobering thought came right into my mind as I told myself that what I resorted to in the end was what I could have done from the very beginning. Profoundly, this experience reinforced in my mind that we are sometimes guilty of treating our Heavenly Father in the same way as I did the bleach by using Him as a last resort. We human beings sometimes use our Heavenly Father as a last resort and that is not the way it should be.
In conclusion, may I say that if we have stains or spots, we could try Chlorine Bleach first. Similarly with the stains, spots, troubles and storms of life, let us remember to call on God our Heavenly Father first. The Bible says:
Matthew 6:33
But seek ye First the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added on to you.
Isaiah 43:2
And when you pass through the waters I will be with you and through the rivers they will not overflow you; when you walk through the fire you will not be burned...
