Spills

My youngest son stood at the refrigerator with his wild blueberry Trix yogurt. He had already opened it and readied himself to have it for breakfast. Suddenly my oldest son came running past him knocking the yogurt out of his brother’s hand. I heard screams of “ugh!” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The yogurt left my son’s hand with such force that it flew across the dining room floor just as a stone skips across the lake. It started at one end of the room and ended half way across the other side leaving blue streaks along the cream colored carpet. That would be spill number one -

That very night I decided to make home made pizzas for dinner. Knowing that everyone had an activity to get to, I hurriedly grabbed the jar of sauce and twisted with all my strength. While doing so, the lid slipped out of my hand causing the pizza sauce to skyrocket through the air leaving red streaks all over my entire kitchen! I honestly have no idea how that happened.

Time stopped after those brief seconds as I stood in the middle of a volcanic eruption. It landed on the appliances, the bread, the microwave, the floor, the counter and anything else sitting close by. I couldn’t believe my eyes! It looked as if someone placed the sauce in a blender and left the lid off. Spill number two.

Its strange how God uses things to speak to us. Who would have thought that he could have used the spills that day to speak to me, but he did. The next morning I sat at the small table staring at that blue streak on the carpet, trying to figure out how I was going to get it out. The kids were off to school and my husband off to work. In the silence of the moment, I felt God speak to me. I heard Him say so gently, “Tina, there will be spills in your life.” I somehow seemed to understand what He meant by that. He was speaking of not only the domestic spills but the spiritual, social, relationship, and physical spills we all have in our lives. I understood that sometimes the spills would be from an accident like my two boys and the yogurt, and sometimes by choice, either way we face spills that need cleaning. Some spills will wipe away easily like the sauce on the cabinets while others will become deeply embedded leaving a very obvious stain.

I continued to gaze at the carpet and ask myself, “What can wash away that stain?” At that very moment, a sweet sound entered my mind and I began to sing, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” My lips creased creating a smile not only on my face but in my heart. That was the answer to all of our spills in life – stained or not.