Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  – Psalm 51:7

So, I was playing golf with my dad yesterday morning and we saw a dog on hole number 14.  He had a leash dragging behind him, so we knew he belonged to someone.  The dog wasn’t interested at all in coming to us.  Right when we were teeing off on 15, we heard someone calling for him.  We tried to yell and say that we saw the dog and point them in the right direction.  It didn’t seem like they heard us, so we went to see them from where they were calling him.  The dog had come to them.  The dog had gotten sprayed with a skunk, so they were putting anything they had on him to take the stink away.  On the 16^th hole, there is a pond.  The owner was holding him down and rinsing him off.  You could tell the dog hated it.  By the time we were on 17, it looked like the dog was on his way back home safely with his family.

I could not help but see the perfect correlation with God and the way He cleans us up.  Each of us bears the image of God when we enter this world.  Yet, we have been sprayed with sin and we stink quite literally to high heaven.  When we hear our master’s voice and we respond, He quickly does some uncomfortable stuff to us.  He puts us through this process called sanctification so we might not stink the place up when we finally arrive home.

Lord, thank you for the perfect picture I just saw.  Thank you that every single thing that You put me through that I have absolutely hated only served to make me more and more like You.  All things truly do work for the good for us who love You and are called according to Your purpose.  Help us to see the end from the beginning.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord my God and my Redeemer.  The last thing I want to do is stink in Your Presence.  There is no one like You.  Prepare me for my heavenly home . . . and help me and that dog not stray too far away.