The Dirty Label:

It was in exactly the same way the people of the city woke up that morning...

... in high and cheerful spirits, ready to begin the day, that the T-shirt at the apparels store also woke up. The sun woke up and said hello, and the T-shirt replied in the same excitable fashion. In fact, it got more excited when the big double doors were pushed open and the people came in like a swarm of bees. And so, it stretched and became poised to show off its designer's label. It was a classic design, skillfully woven together by the best of the best. It was confident that someone rich and famous, or just anyone with a sense of style and an extreme taste for quality would stop, stare at it, and then wisely add it to his or her shopping cart. It only made sense.

So, the people came and yes, they did touch it. In fact, they touched it a little bit too much. Someone smiled at it, another made a gesture towards it, and oh, can you imagine? Someone even smelled its fabric. But the funny thing was that no one actually put it in their shopping cart. No one! Rather, as a woman fondled and selected its neighbor, it was cast down and trampled upon by her dirty heels. So it was that in the same morning it was transformed from a very clean label to a dirty one. Oh, did I tell you that more people came by? But no one picked it up. They kept stepping on it. They kept ignoring it.

The end of the day came and the moon came to say hello too. This time the shirt did not respond. It felt neglected, as though its high expectations had been severely dashed. But just then, the owner of the store came to put things in order. And so, his eyes caught this T-shirt looking dejected on the floor. So he picked it up. He dusted it and took it to a secret place for washing and renewing. "Tomorrow, you will look even more amazing," he whispered to it, even as he transformed the shirt to the glory it deserved.

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Today, I woke up at about 6.30am in the morning while the sun wasn't even up. Didn't get a chance to say 'hello' to the sun. Lol. But at least God said hello. He asked me if I knew what getting dirty meant? Yes, getting dirty as in being trampled upon and maybe being splashed with some elements of very dirty musty mud.

This year, some will get really dirty for God. It is such a great dream to be unique, to be peculiar, and to count for something MORE (just like the last post of this blog). But it's a process. You have to be willing to let go of everything and everyone. You have to be willing to lose something to gain something more precious. You have to be willing to get dirty. Trampled upon.

There are a lot of paradoxes with our Creator. Some may think that the way up is to climb a flight of stairs, but in God's dictionary the way up is actually down. And after you've gone down to do the dirty work, the end thereof will be blessings and rewards, a better glory than your past. Are you willing to be a label? Even more than that, are you willing to risk being called the "dirty label?"

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it," Jesus in Matthew 10:39

Photo by Photobucket.