Saturday, June 26, 2010

The Fluted Pan

I have a fluted caserole dish from Crate and Barrel that is my favorite.

It's blue, and my friend Katie K gave it to me for our wedding shower.

I still remember those things (mostly.)

It's beautiful. I love it. It is my favorite piece of bakeware.

I love it so much that I packed it in one of our footlockers with extra bubble wrap and have brought it all the way to Canada. And it will continue on to the UAE.

It's perfect.

But those flutes, they are a catch all for sticky, burned on residue.

After first using it here to roast two chickens, I noticed a speckled grease stain, and I washed in vain.

They just weren't coming off.

So, I dried it off and put it back in the cupboard.

It was used almost daily for brownies, potatoes, lasagnas, etc..... with the fluted edge becoming more and more speckled looking.

Actually, it was darn right brown.

I would wash it by hand, using a sponge to get between the flutes and still, nothing. So, I accepted it as a stain to the ceramic.

Flash forward to 2 months later. After using the beloved bakeware, I had a hunch, and stood in front of our double sink for over and hour, using my fingernail to scrape off the stains.

And they came right off.

Now, putting aside how disgusting it was that I was using it with those stains still on, I'd like to draw a little parallel that came to my mind while scrubbing.

Our lives are like a fluted pan.

(still with me?)

We have nooks and crannies where bad habits and sins can settle in and take up residence. We can become compliant and accepting of them, telling ourselves that "there's nothing I can do," or "it would take too much work," or even "That's what other people are doing."

We continue to live in our dirty, filthy, grease stained selves thinking that this is the new normal.

Until one day, when we feel convicted, and we scrub away at a sin in our life, asking God to use His mighty hand to do what yours could not do for so long.

Now, sometimes you settle for one clean flute. You know that it can be done now. You're just not sure you are up for all of that hard work.

So you live with it. Dozens of dirty flutes with just one good one, which if you think about it, that one clean one makes the rest look even dirtier.

But it doesn't have to be that way!

Suddenly, with one little flute cleaned in yourself, it contrasts so heavily with the dirty ones that you surge ahead, not wanting any of them to be stained with bad choices, repeated sins, and horrible habits.

So you scrub.

And you cry.

And your fingers may even bleed.

But the point is that your life can be clean again.

So, don't settle.

Don't accept the dirty pan.

Be refined,
Be cleansed by God,
Become that beautiful, clean, shining pan that you were created to be.

“Come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

That's all.

9 comments:

Callie said...

Great parallel, Brittney, and so true! Thanks for the reminder.

Anonymous said...

what a great post!! I love when connections come through normal life! Thanks for sharing and glad you got it clean!

katie said...

Great post Brittney.

The Taffs said...

Wonderful post! I'm so thankful for encouragement through blogging!

Sarah said...

Very nice! It's go great when you have real world situations that remind you that it's never to late to start living the way God wants you to. :) Thanks for the reminder! : )

Lindsey said...

LOVED this post!!

Heather said...

Excellent post Brittney!! Thanks for sharing with us! Needed to hear this today!

Random Musings said...

Loved the post! I have a piece of I LOVE too!

cait said...

love the metaphor, brittney! so thoughtful and such a great reminder!