New Coat of Paint

Olivia stared around her new bedroom in dismay. Not only were the moving boxes from their old house scattered and stacked messily around the room, but the walls were also covered in pencil drawings from the previous owner's children. Doodles, words, and plain old scribbles adorned the white walls all around her new room.Mom always told her, "If you want something, work hard for it!" So Olivia found a washcloth in one of the moving boxes, soaked it with water, and set to work on her walls. If she worked hard, she could have it clean by supper!After what felt like hours of vigorous scrubbing, Olivia sat back to examine her work. It was too much. "Mom!" she called out in frustration.Mom poked her head in. "Olivia, did you call me? And do you want tacos or hamburgers for dinner? Dad's picking it up." "Mom," Olivia said in exhaustion, "I've been scrubbing this wall as hard as I can! And I only got a tiny bit of the pencil off. It's too much work!"Mom came in and sat down on the floor beside Olivia to give her a hug. "Oh, you worked so hard! But Olivia, we're going to paint over these walls. We're going to the hardware store next week to pick out a new color for your walls, and we'll cover up all those pencil markings.""Thank goodness." Olivia sighed in relief. "There's no way I could get it all off!"Mom looked thoughtful. "Liv, that's just like what Jesus does for us. We come to Him with all kinds of sin, and He doesn't tell us we have to scrub it all off. Instead, He removes our sin and covers us with His righteousness!""I don't think I could get rid of my sin on my own," Olivia admitted, thinking about all the work she'd put into scrubbing her walls. "Nobody could," Mom said. "But Jesus gives us a fresh start every day. Even when we sin and go against God, He wants to forgive us and help us start over.""That would be like getting a new coat of paint every day!" Olivia laughed. "Yes, please! Oh, and tacos would be great." She grinned at her mom and started unpacking her boxes. -Sydney Apperson