That He might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any other such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27 NKJV).

One evening when Donn and I were outdoors putting in a sandbox for our three-year-old twins, our neighbor, Mrs. Landorf,* came out on her back porch. Our children ran over to see her, and she greeted them warmly, giving them hugs, kisses and goodies.

A little later, after Angie and Robbie had come back to our yard, I saw Mrs. Landorf briskly scrubbing the porch railing and the aluminum siding beside the steps where our children had stood. I was amused and a little annoyed that she should be so worried about a few grains of sand, but it wasn’t until later that I began to see the spiritual connotation of her behavior.

 I realized that while it isn’t healthy to be too compulsive about physical cleanliness, spiritual cleanliness is more important. Too often, we don’t deal with little sins that come into our lives, and before we know it, we have a major clean-up on our hands. We might have spared ourselves a lot of heartache and trouble if we had been as prompt as Mrs. Landorf and dealt with the sin while it was small.

   Holy Father, forgive us when we are negligent in dealing with our sins. Help us be as prompt in getting rid of sin as Mrs. Landorf was in getting rid of dirt. Amen.

 *Name changed.

Photo 1) Our first rental home in Sandy Lake from 11/74 to 8/76.   Photo 2) A random sandbox! For some reason we have no pictures of this sandbox. Photo 3) Angie and Robbie at age 3.

(Devotional from Homespun Faith, Reflections from the Seasons of Life, copyright 2014 Daisy Beiler Townsend. Available as paperback or ebook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Xulon Press. Locally at Fresh Grounds, M & M Grocery, Leanna’s Books, Penn Alps in Grantsville, Maryland, or from me 724-373-8445 or donaisy@neo.rr.com.)