A Close Call

This afternoon,  I nearly burned my house down.  Gosh, I still can't believe it.  I had put something on the stove to boil, and decided to fold a load of laundry in the meantime.  After folding the laundry I decided that since there was nothing going on for the afternoon, I would give into my fatigue and have a short nap.  When I woke up an hour later, I smelled something funny.  You can imagine how fast my heart began beating when I realized that I had forgotten about the pot on the stove.  I raced down the stairs, where the air grew thicker and thicker with smoke.  I thought for sure that when I turned the corner to the kitchen I would see flames shooting up from the stove. No flames, thank goodness, only the charred remains of what had been in the pot.  I ran around opening windows and doors all over the house; realizing, as I coughed and moved from room to room, how thick the smoke really was.  I was stunned that the smoke alarms did not go off.  I checked to be sure they were in working order and sure enough their green lights are illuminated.  I'm not sure how much smoke would be necessary for them to activate, but I know that any more smoke, and surely my home would have been on fire, and I would have had no way to get to the stove to handle the situation.  The experience left me realizing how easy it would be to lose everything.  In sixty minutes my life and the lives of my family could have been dramatically changed forever.  It is a sobering thought.  I was also struck by something else.  We have quartz counter tops in our kitchen.  I love them.  They're smooth,  and super durable.  You can pretty much do anything on them, and they'll be fine.  I learned today, however, that they do have a limit as to how much heat they can take.  Normally I can place a hot pot on them no problem, today however my pot was hotter than it's ever been, and therefore left a faint burn mark on the counter.  I am so sad that I've created an imperfection in my beautiful counter top.  I'm more sad that this burn mark will forever serve as a reminder of the afternoon I made a silly mistake.  But, it made me think about my sin, my past silly mistakes, and how scripture tells us that when we ask forgiveness of our sins that God is sure to forgive us.  God's Word tells us that through Christ we are made clean, white as snow.  Unlike bad burns that heal, but scare, our souls are healed without leaving a record of the wrong doing.  No scare, no burn marks.  Clean, pure, righteous.  On our own we are not worthy, but in Christ we are made whole, restored to our original splendor and beauty.  Amen to that.  I am grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father, and so thankful  that things didn't turn out as badly as they could have this afternoon.  Now to figure out what I can back that will have strong enough of a pleasant aroma to over power this terrible smell that lives in every corner of our home.


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