Last night I had a dream. God wanted a gift. He knows how fun it is to
receive them. And since He makes everything on this earth, He had to first give
the gift to His children. But then, what kind of a God would He be if He gave
away something to only say, “Give it back.”? He had a great idea. God gave
everyone a very large bowl of ice cream. (Yes, it was a dream.) He knew this
amount of ice cream was way too much for any one person to consume, but that
was ok. He provided this much so that each one would easily be able to share
some with Him and not lack for themselves. This way, He would also get a gift.
Each person who received the ice cream was very excited to get their treat.
Their eyes lit up. They jumped with joy. God was very delighted to see His
children so happy. When every child had their treat, God eagerly took his empty
bowl and reached out to them. But the unthinkable happened. Each child He stood
before looked at Him with surprise in their eyes. "No", they said,
"I want all of the ice cream." When the first one refused, He went to
the next and then the next. God stood for a very long time with longing in His
eyes, holding out His empty bowl. And then, He sadly walked away.
The children greedily dug into their treats. There was so much ice cream;
they could not eat it all. It started melting and running down their hands and
arms and even soiled their clothing all the way through their shoes. The sticky
mess became so bad, that they could not clean it up fast enough. Everywhere
they walked, because they were so sticky, dust and dirt would cling all over
them. When they walked through the house, anything they brushed up against
glued onto their clothes. They ran outside, trying to find a way to get clean.
Leaves from the trees and feathers from the birds stuck to them so badly, they
were no longer even recognizable as children. They looked more like creatures
from another world. No longer did they resemble the beautiful child God had so
lovingly made.
But God heard them crying and He turned around and saw His children hurting.
He reached out to them and held His hands over each of the children. One by
one, He washed them clean once more.
Some of the children loved Him and clung to Him, promising to make better
choices. Some gave Him a hug, thanked Him, and then ran back to their house. But
the saddest ones of my dream were the children who were too embarrassed to let
God wash them. They chose instead to stay dirty, and they left the yard, with
the grass, feathers, leaves and dust following as they walked away.
A tear rolled down God's eye as He sadly watched those children leave. Yet
His face turned to a smile as He took hold of the hands of the children who
loved Him. He would take them to His home where they would always stay clean.
Their love became His greatest gift. As He led them on, He glanced back into the children’s
house and sighed. He watched the children who stayed behind fill their bowls with more ice cream.
"I will return", said He. "Turn to me, and I will wash you clean."
- Becki
for it is on this day that atonement shall be made
for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. - Leviticus 16:30
