Washing

Sometimes I feel silly talking about my thoughts because, well, they seem a little silly! I'm not a deep thinking theologian and I tend to see Him in small things. But if that's how I'm made I guess that's what I'd better be willing to give:

I've been sick the past few days and this morning felt good enough to enter back into the human race--at least part of the day. That shower after being sick feels so good! While not cold yet, the weather has cooled enough that I'm glad I remembered to turn the water heater on a while before I wanted to shower. I relished the feeling of oils and grime washing away and when I toweled off it felt SO good to be clean.

Being clean where we live is a privileged because lots of people aren't. Lots of people don't have the privacy to strip down and wash, they have to make do with sort of splashing with their clothes on. Lots of people don't have access to a water supply that would allow them to do even that. Lots of people can't afford soap. You can tell who has been on the streets for a while or not by the layers of grime. Who is trying to keep up a standard of cleanliness or who just doesn't care anymore. While people here are brown, those who have been on the streets for a long time are not. The layers of dirt on their skin and in their hair make them a much lighter ashen color. But whatever their level of dedication to hygiene, people on the street never get to feel truly clean. The privilege of being clean is something not to be taken for granted.

While feeling physically clean is amazing, being clean on the inside is...........I don't really have any words! Bliss? Transcendent? Heaven?

But how often do I take for granted the feeling of buoyancy inside, the uninhibited connection to all powerful Light, the peace in the midst of the trial, the inexpressible joy when I'm fresh 'off my knees' and clean before Him? Clean BECAUSE of Him?

It's a privilege to be clean. And may I never take it for granted.