Shiny, New and Ready to Fill

A gleaming new refrigerator sits in my kitchen ready to serve. The inside is sparkling clean and ready to fill with good things. The luminous silver of the outside attracts the eye. Can you see that I’m excited about my new kitchen appliance? That’s because it was a long road getting into its proper place…

We found the side-by-side at the local appliance store. Because we live in a small town, we like to support the local businesses whenever we can and, being last year’s model, this refrigerator was priced right! And it had all the bells and whistles we were looking for.

So this morning, with the kitchen sink and a cooler full of cold and frozen food, we waited for the men to come and slide the new model into the space. They arrived. We were all in a great mood. Until we heard those words you never want to hear from a doctor or an appliance delivery man… “Uhoh. We have a problem.”

Turns out the new monster (my attitude about the refrigerator was beginning to change) was about an inch too large for the space. First and easiest adjustment – remove the quarter-round at the bottom of the wall. Done. Still too big. Next and most useless exercise, we all took turns measuring the refrigerator and the hole, over and over, as if we could change the dimensions if we just kept measuring.

Finally the man said, “As I see it, you have two options: call someone in to shave an inch off your countertop or get a smaller refrigerator.” Perhaps I should mention at this point that I was sitting at the kitchen counter praying intently – not that the size of the refrigerator would change but that I would have a sweet pliable nature. It’s not as if I had one of those to begin with but could I please just have one this morning?

I wasn’t ready yet to admit the defeat of returning to find another refrigerator. Yet contractors are hard to come by in Manning, SC, especially on a Saturday morning. So I looked at the delivery guy who had impressed me as really capable. “Okay, here’s the deal…we’re going to be replacing these countertops in a year or so. Any chance you could shave off the inch?”

Have I remarked about what a champ the guy was? He discovered that there was an inch facing under the edge of the counter on the refrigerator side. He popped it off and cut the top and, finally! slid the new side-by-side into place.

So here she sits. And I have to think about my daily process of coming before God – old, useless, messy. And I confess my sins and I think I’m ready to be filled. But sometimes the space and I are at odds. A quarter-round of attitude still needs to be taken care of. An inch of rebelliousness needs to be shaved off. He shows me what I need to deal with and then He presents me to the world – new, shiny, ready to be filled with His good things – love, joy and peace.

Jeremiah 33:8; Romans 15:13; Job 8:21; Psalm 119:171
I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me…May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit…He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy…May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees.