I don't know about you but there is something I just love about taking something that is otherwise worthless and turning into something special or usin' a little elbow grease on something dirty, then be able to stand back and admire the difference. So you'll understand my happiness when I tell you I finally got a bottle of silver polish and was, at long last, able to clean our silver properly, I never knew those old plates could shine so bright!As I was cleaning I was thinking(cause you know polishing is kind of a quiet "thinking" kind of job), watching the black tarnish build up on my rag, slowly revealing the hidden treasure that had been trapped beneath...and had the thought "you know, in G-d's eyes I am just like this piece of silver" I am tarnished and dirty - yes! But by G-d's great goodness have been claimed as His treasured possession. And through His work and instruction am being purged and sanctified.
In my humanness I can't see past the tarnish a lot of the time. I can't see the value that lies beneath all the mess. It seems like everyday I am faced with another part of me that I just can't stand. I think "Why!? Why can't I get this right?", cleaning that silver served as a gentle reminder that sanctification takes time, it's slow(but steady!) you can't rush it, after all, would you take a chisel to a priceless piece or ornately carved silver to remove the dirt and tarnish? No, I don't think so, it's a process - layer by layer.
Baruch HaShem! When I fail He is not condemning me so I should just be satisfied to admit it was stupid, move on and learn from the mess up, confident that my heavenly Father is busy at work making this rusty, dirty, tarnished, and otherwise questionable material into a vessel fit for noble use...I pray I will also remember to extend this grace to others as the Father does His work in them as well...reminding myself to look beyond the tarnish to see the gleaming treasure beneath just as He does. Lila tov and Shabbat Shalom
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