Traffic was moving along full speed ahead when I first saw him. He tumbled from under the car ahead of me on the hill and bounced toward the side of the road. I couldn’t tell if the people in the car had thrown him out or simply run over him, but his once-white curly hair and shining eyes appealed to me, and I determined to rescue him. It happened so fast, I had to turn around and come back, pull off and park, then dash out during a lull in the traffic and snatch the bear while he was still intact. I didn’t really need him, but I have a soft place in my heart for teddy bears.
He was once a pretty glamorous bear, but now he had a lot of gray road dust mixed into his curly hair. I felt him over, and from the lumps and bumps and hard core in his center, I was sure that he was at one time an expensive bear that could do something, but the on-button on his left paw no longer worked. I took him home and put him on a corner of the sofa.
When guests came to visit, they would pick him up and hold him, and I would tell them how I rescued him, adding that I was going to clean him up someday. Eventually, that day came. I had just finished reading my devotional book and was thinking things over when I looked at the bear.
But how does one clean a bear full of hardware? I turned him over and read the label. It said, “Spot clean only. Do not machine wash.” But how could I spot clean him? He was coated with dust from head to toe. He needed a full bath!
Then I saw it—the key to his heart—a Velcro opening that went right up his back! And my education on bears’ hearts began. I eased open the Velcro and reached in for the hard thing. The concept from Ezekiel 36:26 flashed through my mind—"I will take away the stony heart” and “give you a heart of flesh” (KJV).
That was it! I would take away his hard heart and give him a soft one. But as I pulled on it, it didn’t just come out. It was sewn and tied in with a one-way plastic gripper. I got my seam ripper and started surgery. Soon, I had eased out the big black rectangle, but it was still connected to the bear. Streams of cords went from his “heart” to eight lumpy locations throughout his body, including the on-off switch in his left paw. This reminded me of my ties to my old habits. I clipped stitches and snipped threads one by one until the whole mess came free.
By now, he was looking a bit deflated, so I brought out my polyester batting and filled in the flat spots. He definitely looked better and felt much softer with his new heart of soft batting, but he was still dirty, and my hands were gray from handling him.
I considered tossing him into the washing machine but decided that would be too rough. Besides, how long would it take to dry a whole, stuffed bear? Then I thought, I’ll just take out his stuffing, hand-wash his skin, put him in a net bag, and dry him in the dryer with towels and bouncing laundry balls. So I pulled out all his stuffing and left it on the sofa. Then I plunged him into a sink of lukewarm water and dish soap. He was so dirty I had to wash and rinse him three times before the water came clear. But his eyes were still bright every time he came up from washing. I thought about how much better baptism is than the world’ “spot cleaning”!
Then I threw him into the dryer, where he bounced around for an hour with some good company. When he came out, he was still curly but rather thin. We sat down together, the bear and I, and I worked his stuffing all back in from his nose to his toes. I had to push and pull on some of it and squeeze him back into shape, but he never complained.
As I worked, I thought about how much Jesus has to put me through to get me into the shape He wants me to be. Sometimes, when I give Him my all, I feel afraid that He’s tearing me all apart and pushing me through a knothole. But He knows what He’s doing. He has a vision in mind for me that I can’t see.
When I was finished, I was pleased to see how attractive, shining, and huggable the bear had become.
I hope Jesus will make me attractive, shining, and huggable. It all begins with a change of heart.
