A white shirt in the basement laughed at my iron and me. Each of the shirt’s imbedded wrinkles seemed to mock us. “Can’t you do any better than that?” they hissed. “You may as well be using a banana!” Some of those creases had never seen the light of day. They were large enough to hide coins, bottle caps, and other foreign matter. While I stood there dumbfounded, my silver iron begged and pleaded for help. Being a good iron-owner, I eventually listened. I unplugged the miserable iron and gave it a refreshing drink of cold water. The iron smiled. I plugged it back in and turned the dial toward steam. Voila! Steam burst through the holes and charged forward. The shirt stopped laughing. The wrinkles ran for cover, and something else wonderful happened. I discovered an amazing thing about God.

His Spirit can move through us like steam through an iron and take the wrinkles out of our lives. He longs to do it. But it won’t happen, if we do not allow Him to pour Himself into us. And even if we’re full of holes and incompetent, like the iron, we can turn on our faith and let Him work things out through us.

Lord as You come into my life

To pour Your water in,

My heart begins to bubble up

My faith begins to spin.

Like steam moves through an iron

Your spirit soars through me,

And I am able to enjoy

The grace that sets me free.

And now my heart is able

To do what it must do,

To touch the people in my life

And give them more of You.

For one by one the wrinkles

That ripped my life apart

Are yielding to the power

That is working in my heart.

Copyright 2004 by Sharon Ricks