Advent-ageous Prayer (Malachi 3:1-4)

Today, Malachi 3:1-4 has me thinking about what it means to be cleansed and purified. First, it means that the Refiner can see the dirt that is embedded within my person. These are not necessarily defects, but rather impurities that have become a part of me because I was not careful or because I wrongly assumed that I could get close to them and be immune to their effects or worse yet, because I thought that I might play in a strange sandbox and later just wash away the sand but anyone who has ever tried to get sand out of a black girl's hair knows that it is an arduous process that requires expert cleaning and sometimes means a few grains of sand may stay lodged in the natural kinks and curls of the hair for a while. I was thinking about the refiner's fire and since the closest I've ever come to that kind of fire was in the kitchen when I've cooked with wine and waited for the heat to burn off the unnecessary alcohol, I had to take a minute to really think about that process.

This is not just an external cleansing of surface dirt. The refiner's fire melts the gold or silver, changing, but not harming, its physical state for the moment while impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed off by the refiner. This is not a microwave process. This process takes time and the gold and silver must yield fully to the process. This made me wonder if I have come to the refiner's fire repeatedly with newly washed, sand-free hair, clean ears and fingernails, a freshly scrubbed face and the nerve to give up my turn in line because I feel clean enough to make it just one more day. Have I come to the refiner's fire after taking a bath and merely left the refinery in the emperor's new clothes - still having internalized the real dirt and grime that only the fire can burn off? I wonder if I have yielded to the refiner's fire and the Refiner's touch or if I just yelled, "It's too hot! I'm melting! Please stop!!" Hmm...

Dear God,
Please melt me today and cleanse me of the impurities that have become so familiar that I no longer see them for the dirt that they are. Today, I offer myself to you in the hope that I will be made ready for your return. Today, I ask you to cleanse me so that I might go into the valleys and fill them with the hope of your return. As liquid takes the shape of its container, allow me to flow into low places, bringing hope and peace and joy. Today I am yielding my ears and my heart to hear your clear call to repentance. Today, I will wait while You pin my impurities to an old rugged cross and instead of leaving the refinery in the arrogant delusion of wearing the emperor's new clothes, I leave in a reversible robe of righteousness - white on the inside, camel hair on the outside. This is my Advent-ageous prayer for today.

Amen