February 20, 2012 

As I was walking through our laundry room this morning, my eyes caught a glimpse of a poster we have hanging there. It’s a poster of Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal. Henri Nouwen used this painting as the basis for his book, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Meditation on Fathers, Brothers, and Sons. I had purchased the poster when a group I was part of read and discussed Nouwen’s book. The poster has always had a deep spiritual meaning to me. I know that I have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and relish the spiritual feeling I get when I confess and feel God’s redemptive arms of love encircle me. What struck me this morning was not a need for repentance, but rather, ‘isn’t this (a laundry room) a strange place to hang such a poster?’

Just as quickly as that thought streamed through my mind, the answer came. ‘No, this is where things that are dirty are made clean.’ ‘Ah,’ I thought, ‘how true.’ Just as the dirt from my sin needs cleansed by the love of God, so do the clothes my family and I wear. It is a great place for the poster to hang…in the same room where clothes are made clean to remind me of God’s cleansing of my life.

I quickly thanked God for the insight and went on with my morning. I pray, today, God will speak to you and you’ll experience the closeness of His presence in your life, even in the most ordinary of places.

See you in church!

My vision for Lebanon First UMC, a reflection by Rev. Peter J. Wehrly, August 2011, which includes his core values and key verses from Scripture that guide his ministry