beWARM

Thank God for baby wipes!  As I left the house this morning, I hastily threw a pack into my purse, anticipating that I would need them during my babysitting time with The Divine Miss V.

They were summoned to duty soon after we got on the highway, when a malfunctioning bottle cap caused a shower of blueberry smoothie to adorn my turquoise pants. (Deciding against wearing my bluejeans was the wrong move.)

Thank heavens I wasn’t driving!

Out came the wipes, and after some frantic rubbing, only a slight tinge of blue remained (in about 5 different places!). Joey lucked out with only a single blast, which also faded considerably.

While all of this damage control was underway, all I could think of was how ridiculous I would have looked arriving at the airport with pants a la Jackson Pollock, had I not had those now-indispensable wipes. Vanity was my prevailing sentiment….but would anyone really have cared….or even noticed?

While waiting to board my flight , the concept of stain-release kept swirling in my mind.  As unwanted as they were, those blueberry polkadots seemed minor in comparison to other unforeseen circumstances – you know, the ones that can make your heart ache, or keep you from sleeping at night.

Our sophisticated technology has not yet invented a way to for us to rewind, erase, and do a “take 2” for those moments we wish had never experienced, or initiated.

Perhaps such an easy way out would rob us of our opportunities to learn and grow.

God brought some questions to mind:

Am I as concerned about my smudges within as I was about this minor spill?  And what am I doing to attempt erasure of those nagging spots – of negativity, worry, fear, you name it – whatever distractions keep me from focusing on God.

If I have ever initiated such an onslaught, what steps should I be taking to make amends and rebuild the bridges?

Since God hasn’t made us Teflon-coated (even though sometimes my brain feels that way), how can I process such encounters in a healthy and constructive way?

My dear friend Norma says that God wants us to approach all things from a place of love and mercy.

Wow, that is a big order.

But as I think further, it is only with the assistance of God’s “blotchguards” that we are able to transform hurts into joys, and seemingly indelible wounds into positive life lessons.

And  think of Jesus, whose death on the cross was the ultimate in stain-removal – our sins forgiven, forever.

How an onslaught of blue blobs took my thoughts in this direction is beyond me.

I am grateful for wipes and wonderings… and for how God helps us through our botches, blotches, and blunderings.

He never ceases to amaze me.