Spill It

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 KJV).

Do you like that fresh, inky scent of a new book? Or do you prefer that dusty, musty fragrance of a library book? I like both, but sometimes a food stain interferes with that bookish scent.

Last summer a friend sent me a box of used books as a gift. On one especially interesting book she had placed a sticky note, explaining that the previous owner had spilled coffee or chocolate pudding on the pages. A quick sniff suggested that chocolate pudding was the culprit.

And recently my son had set one of my Rose Wilder books on the kitchen floor, pausing in his reading to enjoy a freeze pop. Later he quietly confessed that he had spilled a few freeze-pop drops on my book. Suddenly In the Land of the Big Red Apple had become In the Land of the Big Purple Freeze Pop.

Because I had been told about those smudges, they were much less distressing when I came across them in those books. But what if those marks had been an unpleasant surprise? What if nobody had ever admitted to the besmirching of my books? For both parties, there is something refreshing about confession.

What about the many marks on the pages of my life? Every day the Christian sins; every day we spatter our pages with dribbles and drops. But when we confess those sins to God, our fellowship with Him becomes as fresh and inviting as the pages of a new book.