(Don't) Wash Me, Please…

Last month we attended something called “Maker Faire” at the Travis County Fairgrounds. It’s an event that’s hard to describe, featuring everything from home-built robots to cars decorated with bizarre objects, a life-size “Mousetrap” game, an amazing demonstration of what happens when you drop Mentos mints into hundreds of bottles of Diet Coke (answer: fountains of fizz forty feet in the air). One of my favorite sights, though, was decidedly low-tech. An artist from San Marcos, Scott Wade, was creating some beautiful artwork in a most unique medium: the dusty windows of his car. He employed his fingers, brushes, popsicle sticks and other tools to draw amazingly-detailed pictures of old Hollywood stars, classic fine art, familiar movie monsters…amazing stuff, all created in the dirt on a windshield. Here's a sample of one of his pictures; you can see many more examples on Scott’s website: dirtycarart.com.
It got me thinking, though. God likes to create in dirt, also. Remember Jesus making mud from dirt and spit…and using to cure a man’s blindness? Remember God forming Adam from the dust of the ground? And when God decided to come down here in human form, He didn’t materialize in a sterile hospital room; he chose a stinky, filthy animal barn. God doesn’t mind dirt.
So why do we often feel so awkward about coming to God when we’ve gotten our hands dirty? Do we think we have to be spotlessly clean to approach Him? We should know better. God loves dirt. It’s the medium He used to make his most prized artistic creation: you. Even in dirt, God sees beauty.
Note: Mike Robertson will be signing his book, Shiny Spots in the Rust, between services today by the Riverbend Bookstore. The book is in limited supply and will likely sell out before Christmas.