I did it because it was fun! Sometimes at recess and sometimes after school. As a third grader I had a blast with some of my classmates cleaning the erasers and chalk boards. We'd pound those puppies together trying to create the biggest dust cloud. Biggest dust cloud wins. Then it was a race to get your board the cleanest, the fastest. Every inch had to be sparkling green again with no streaking and no puddles of water on the floor. Our teacher must have thought we were nuts. No one asked us. We weren't being punished. We just thought it was cool.
I love to compete and I love to race. But in my hurry, I often had to go back and wipe the board clean again, because as it dried it would leave ugly yellow streaks and smudges on the green board. I'd look over at one of my meticulous friends who carefully and thoroughly was wiping every inch of the board with their damp sponge. I was totally amazed at the pristine nature of their board as it dried. I always had to go back and do mine over.
Although chalkboards have given way to dry erase boards and now smart boards and video projection, the image of the old dust flying from those erasers and seeing those green boards dry to a pristine purity depicts to me the cleansing power of God's grace through Jesus Christ. Without entering into a philosophical or theological discussion of "tabula rosa" or "TULIP," that image describes what God does in my life initially when I first come to faith in Christ and daily as I surrender my life to Him.
A lot of stuff gets written on my board. Sometimes I try to erase it and start over, but the dusty smudges are always there. The more I write or someone else writes, draws, scribbles or diagrams, the more cluttered and confusing my life becomes. When God washes me, I'm pristine again. Nothing that's gone on in the past is evident on my life board. I have what's known as a "clean slate." What I do with my life board from here on out is fresh and new. My past no longer clouds my future.
God, it's miserable when I cloud the issue with my own attempts at starting over. I'm frustrated by the smudges of my past. Wipe my board clean. Make me pristine. Allow me to articulate with clarity your glory, to artfully sketch your majesty. Better yet, you take the chalk. You write on my life. You draw your design. I trust you. I want to be a benefit to others. Communicate through me the splendor of your good news.
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