Bath time in our house is a welcomed event. Our kids absolutely love a little tub action, and often jockey for the sacred position of being first. You see, we still bathe like the Walton family. I draw one bath that each kiddo has to share. The first one in has all the advantages...warm water, ample bubbles, and a nice dry towel at the end. By the time number three makes it to the tub the water is chilled, the towel is wet, and what bubbles?On the fateful night in which I am about to describe, Ava had the extreme privilege of being the first to bathe. Ava is part fish and tends to prolong her allotted time in the bathtub. I allow ample time for play, but now that she is getting bigger, I expect her to be able to wash her own hair and such. This seems to take her forever. So, on this night, it is no surprise to me that Ava is still in the tub.
I call up to her, "Ava, you need to finish up now. It's Isaac's turn. "
She replies, "I'm not ready yet. I had to get out to use the potty, so I didn't have much time in the tub."
This is a typical scenario, so I simply offer another two minutes. Two minutes go by and I proceed to venture up stairs to make certain she is properly washed.
At first glance everything seems fine. But as I kneel down and get my hands into the water, I notice something suspicious. Something is floating in the water. I splash around a bit to clear the bubbles from obstructing my view. Debris is everywhere, the water is full of this mysterious sediment. What's going on?
Then I see it. A squishy little turd being tossed about by the waves! Panic stricken, I clutch Ava and fling her from the tub. "What did you do?!"
Apparently, Ava needed to use the potty but hated the idea of getting out of the warm tub to tend to such pressing business. She decided to delay the matter until fate forced her to deal with it. Fate, however, was not so slow in presenting Ava with the encouragement she needed. Fate sent a poot. A poot? When you think it's just a toot but a little poo comes too. :)
Now, I'm a reasonable woman. I was once a five year old girl as well. I can identify with her predicament. What I can't seem to fathom is why she thought it was okay to return to the tub after using the potty! Surely she knew that there was evil lurking beneath the bubbles.
Now, I hate to admit this, but I too have swam in tainted waters. I have spent years happily splashing around in contaminated pools, steeped myself in all sorts of pollution. I have ingested filth, gagged, choked, even began to drown in the putrid ponds that I have chosen to play in. Thankfully, my vigilant Lifeguard has reached down to pluck me from those waters on more than one occasion. Why am I so inclined to return to the swamps I used to wade in? Why do I drink from mere mud puddles?
I think it's because God made us with a basic need for water. We desire to be totally immersed. Whether it's our kids, job, hobbies...whatever, we want to be completely saturated with the things that seem to quench our thirst. But have we ever took the time to actually look down and see the filth floating in our cups?
We can't add a little Holy in hopes to dilute the contamination . It's not even enough to pour out the things in our life that are polluted. What we need is to be washed in the cleansing water of God's mercy. We need to fill our cups until they overflow with His grace, to saturate ourselves with His love.
If we aren't standing "under the spout where the glory comes out", then we will always return to rancid reservoirs. Much like our bathtub, anything could be floating in there!
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