White Pants
A friend and I recently attended a conference in Dallas. At the hotel we met a woman who was also attending the conference so we sat and talked over coffee the morning before the first meeting. When it was time to leave, the woman got up and bumped the table hard enough that it spilled my full cup of coffee onto the table and onto my pants….my WHITE pants! But lets look at the bright side–my cup was half coffee and half creamer so the stain was a nice mocha brown instead of dark brown.
Normally I would just go change my pants and the problem would be solved. But this particular trip I decided to “pack light” and only brought one other set of clothes which were designated for the next day of meetings. Also missing from my suitcase were my Tide pen and my Shout wipes! So a washcloth and a little soap was the quick fix of the morning and off to the meetings we went. Either no one noticed the remaining coffee stain or they were just gracious enough to not laugh and point!
But not to be outdone by my morning coffee, my lunch seemed to want a little of the action too and ended up leaving its mark on my pants as well. One mystery stain was an orangish-yellow color (possibly salad dressing) and another dark stain looked suspiciously like the chocolate dessert that was served. By the time we got back to the hotel that evening the white pants were technically no longer white!
Not wanting all those stains to become permanent I decided to soak the pants in some liquid soap and water overnight. In the morning as I hung them over the curtain rod to dry I was shocked to see that not a trace of the previous days menu remained on the pants.
Wow–to see those white pants restored to bright white again reminded me that God’s mercies are new every morning for us. We get a fresh clean start every day! Sometimes the stains on our lives are caused by others and sometimes they are of our own doing; but either way we have a Savior who will wash the stains away and make us clean again!
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is they faithfulness. Lam 3:22-23
Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. Is 1:18
