For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13, NIV)
I remember the first few days after our son came home from his first deployment in a series of vignettes. Most vivid are the physical memories—being able to hug him, sitting with him at meals, watching him come downstairs after he’d been asleep in his own bed.
But following closely was the intrusion of dust that seemed to permeate everything he’d brought home from the Middle East. It wasn’t the consistency of the dust I was used to finding. This stuff was more like talcum powder than anything I’d ever encountered.
It left a film in the washing machine and in the dryer. It settled into the grout lines in the bathroom and settled on surfaces in his room.
The worst of it was found within his laptop computer. It had quit working fairly early in his tour, but he’d brought it back home to see if his dad could fix it. My husband is good with computers, so he cracked open the case to give it try.
What he found was more dust than anyone could imagine. Microscopic, silt-like motes covered the internal workings of the machine–wires, chips and all the boards. The dust stymied the poor machine from making the connections it needed to function.
My husband patiently cleaned every speck from the computer. It took a couple of days, but without the clogging dust, the computer rebounded and returned to its original duties.
As I watched my husband restoring the computer to working order, I couldn’t help but draw the parallel to my spiritual life. Sometimes I get into situations where I let the dust of the world clog my spiritual life. When that happens, it slows down my ability to let God work through me.
But just like my husband, the Holy Spirit is always available to patiently mop up the mess we’ve made. He can help us clean things up and get us back in working order. All we have to do is open our hearts and let Him in.
