Rev. Keith Hardy
Rags to Riches
I will always be grateful to J. E. Caldwell Jewelers of Philadelphia. I worked there summers and part-time for most of my years in college and seminary, primarily in the stationary department. There I had to opportunity to help provide some of the finest quality stationary and calling cards to some of the most prestigious families in the area, including one named DuPont.
It helped pay a lot of bills. It also taught me a few things I might not have learned otherwise. That’s how I know that the following story is accurate.
“In England there is a paper factory that makes the world’s finest stationery. If you visit it and ask what this stationery is made from, you will be surprised to find out that much of what makes this perfect, high-quality paper is dirty rags! In one area, stockpiled old dirty rags are in huge piles.
One man who visited there wouldn’t believe it. Then six weeks after his visit he received a package of paper from the company with his initials embossed on it. On the first page were written the words, “Dirty rags transformed!” Christ does the same to our lives. He takes our dirty rags and transforms us into His own image.”
Not a bad image for this Pentecost season. The power of the Holy Spirit purifies our “dirty rag” souls and lives, transforming them into the finest 100% rag bond on which the Father can create an image of Christ. Not always a simple or painless process, but the only one that can take what has been stained and ”worn out” by the world and make of it something that could truly be called “the best in the world”.
May your soul be blessed with the purity that the Spirit can bring. And may you then display the image of Christ, drawn by the hand of the Father. And may the world be a better place for it.
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