Back in December when I was musing about contentment I mentioned some towels I was wanting for Christmas to replace my shabby old ones. I actually got those towels from my mother-in-law. So now I have these beautiful egg-plant/blue/red patterned towels that match my kitchen very well. They're micro-fiber (the new "in" material for whatever reason) and cost much more than the run-of-the-mill kitchen towel. In every way perfect except for one: they don't dry!
Now who out there would invent (and sell) a towel that doesn't actually get things dry??? I'm serious about this. You take that towel, wipe a wet pan with it and all that happens is the water gets smeared around. Pan:still wet. Towel: still dry. Something is wrong here. So there my towels hang, draped on the oven handle. They look pretty. But they do nothing. Knowing what they cost I have a hard time throwing them away. Yet I try not to use them for fear of frustrating myself.
It makes me think of something Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." (Matthew 5:13).
If I had to draw a response to the Sermon on the Mount, I might draw a picture of my towels to remind me not to lose my purpose. Are you doing what you were created to do? Or have you lost your "saltiness" or become a towel that won't dry?
I haven't thrown out those old towels. They may be stained and full of holes, but they still get the dishes dry. And in the end, that's what counts.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
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6 musings:
You said, "Are you doing what you were created to do?"
Oh, Sister! That's powerful! I'm going to write it on post it notes and put them in a bunch of places.
Hey Craver you must go through a lot of post it notes!!
Those towels are kind of hypocritical, they sure look good but they don't act/live out their towel purpose. You can call them your Pharisee towels!
I love this analogy.
First, thanks for visiting my blog. I'll peruse this one later, but I liked this comment about the towels. I have a set of towels just like that - very pretty, very useless. But I don't want to get rid of them because they're so colorful.
Am I doing what I was created to do? I think I'm getting there. Certainly the writing is part of it and it's opened up other avenues of "ministry" if you want to call it that. Mostly, writing has unlocked my heart and I can bring life - the life of Christ - more readily to my friends and the people around me because of the courage I've developed by writing. Makes me think of my favorite quote by Howard Thurman - “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
This is a great parable!
It got me thinking. Is there only one purpose for a towel?
That is maybe my favorite verse translated by The Message (thank you BibleGateway.com):
Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
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