Of Shirt Creases and Ironing Boards

"So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

Matthew 5: 23, 24

I have a crease in my shirt. And it was brought to my notice in the most embarrassing fashion.

"Chief, my colleagues where laughing at you", my house officer said. "They said you did not iron your shirt."

"But I did!" I protested.

"Well, that line is showing", he said, as he ran his index finger up and down in the direction of the defect. He was referring to that crease my shirt got from hugging the clothesline for one long night as it dried. And sure enough, there it was, smack-dab in the middle of my back. This was definitely not the kind of information I needed since I was already having a bad-clothes-day. I had indeed ironed my shirt, well enough I thought at the time, but this one had escaped the scalding heat of the iron's blade.

I wonder what other creases there are in my life. Everything else may be looking nice and crisp, but when those annoying strips show up, they can cause me such embarrassment and make a mess of everything good I may have done.

What about you? You may have everything nice and straightened out. Your job, straightened out. Your education, straightened out. Your kids, straightened out. Your relationships, straightened out… mostly. But there are often those few creases which we pretend not to notice until they show up and bite us in the bum.

Take a minute to consider now, how are your relationships with the people around? Is there something you need to take care of now? Forgiveness you need to offer? An apology you owe? A word of comfort you have not given?

Here's where to start - on God's own ironing board. Take the matter to God in prayer, then go ahead and do something about it. So long as you ignore it, it will fester and grow and stick out like a sore thumb. Only when we address these issues will they take the back seat so everyone can see how truly lovely is the shirt on our backs.

With love, Doosuur.