On the first morning of a recent vacation, I pulled on my white shorts that I’d planned on wearing onto our cruise ship and wear periodically throughout the week. My husband and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel until I dripped coffee onto my shorts. I tried wiping them with my napkin and with a wet towel. Nothing. Great. I changed shorts before heading onto our cruise, never to wear those shorts for the rest of the week.

Our first morning on the cruise, I donned my bathing suit and covered up with a t-shirt and white skirt. I headed out to ship’s deck with my cup of coffee in hand, which to my disappointment was actually a little teacup. I headed to a lounge chair on the upper deck. As I was strolling, wind whipped up from nowhere and swooshed the coffee right out of my cup all down the front of my white skirt. None of the coffee hit my orange t-shirt, but all splattered across the front of my white skirt. Seriously?

I continued on to my lounge chair where my husband awaited. I set my near-empty cup down and stood before my husband. “Look at me!” I cried in embarrassment. He laughed. This was not just a tiny drippage. It was a swoosh across my whole skirt. It appeared that I’d emptied a Starbucks Venti on myself.  I was completely horrified and couldn’t stand it. I flew to our room to change out of my soiled skirt. I scrubbed it in the sink then put on a blue skirt I’d brought.

As I began my morning devotional I was overcome with grief. All of my sins came to the forefront of my mind and I saw myself as the wretched sinful person I am. I repented of all of them that I could think of then added all the others that I couldn’t recall but I know I’d done or would do. I repented for all the people I may have hurt, the thoughts I’d had that weren’t Godly and on and on.

Then the parable hit me. It took two spillages on my white clothes for it to hit me, but it did. I realized how embarrassed I’d been standing in my coffee-soiled white skirt. I could do nothing at that time, on that deck, to clean it. And that was just a coffee stain. That was nothing compared to the sin covering me as I stood before God that morning and every day. My sin is so awful that God can’t even look at me. I’m helpless to clean any of it up on my own. But thanks to Jesus, who washed me clean with His blood, my disgusting stains are completely gone. I can approach the throne of Grace with confidence, cleansed, purified, made right, not embarrassed, not running to hide, but clean. Thank you Jesus.

Oh, how appreciative I was for that event that morning. I praised God for the sweet reminder of all Jesus has done for me.

On the last day, the weather turned cooler and we were heading back to a NC winter, so I put on the only capris I’d brought which of course, were white. I was very careful drinking my coffee that morning. However, I’d ordered tomato juice on the plane. Jesus, wanting to make sure I’d remembered His lesson allowed one drop of juice to drip onto my white capris. Thank you, Jesus. I am forever grateful for your sense of humor, cleansing and your precious reminders of what You’ve done for me.

My skirt, shorts, and capris all washed clean with a lot of scrubbing and Zout. But, I will forever be more mindful of my sins and of Jesus’ cleansing especially when I’m wearing white.

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:18

Share any embarrassing spillages below that you have experienced. Come on! I can’t be the only one…