Part 2, Chapter 19
Each week, I take my clothes downstairs to the washing machine. It takes time to do this, it is not my favorite thing to do, and I definitely would rather do something else. And yet, I know that I need to wash my clothes. I know that they are cleaner, they smell better. It helps me to be a bridge to Christ rather than an obstacle by the way that I smell. Sometimes I have to pretreat the clothes because I have spilled something on them. Sometimes I have to soak it and let it just sit for a while before washing. Still, I am so happy when the clothes come out without there stains.
Many times we have stained our souls, and we need to pretreat them. We need to spend some time getting ourselves ready for confession. Asking God to enlighten our hearts, to show us where we have failed Him, lets us soak in the pretreatment. By preparing this way, we can go to confession ready and we are able to confess what we need too. “Examine closely what special reason you have for accusing yourself thus, and when you have discovered it, accuse yourself simply and plainly of your fault” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 63). By making this preparation, we will be prepared to confess “one’s bad habits, inclinations, and ways, and the other roots of sin” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 64). Thus, we will be helping ourselves to be more free and ready to walk in cleanness.
When we have prepared, we now should go through our weekly wash, which is confession. Having ourselves go to weekly confession helps us to be clean. We are able to walk more in His grace. We are thus able to bring Jesus more to people rather than ourselves. We clean our clothes so that they will help us to smell good, even more so we should have our souls cleaned so that we can smell of the goodness of the Lord.