Stained

I have a good,white tablecloth. You know the kind...it only comes out for special meals with special guests. It's on my table at home right now...the home that is supposed to be spotless and in "show" condition.

This cloth has a quarter-sized grease spot on it. (Perhaps the reason our house is not selling...?)


I've scrubbed and soaked and bleached, and it has faded, but not disappeared.

I've covered it with a candy dish, pumpkins, candles...but it's awkward...it's not right in the center but at one of the place settings...a reminder of a shared meal.

I walk by the table and each time my eyes go right to that spot. And I wonder if any other person who passes by notices it.

How could they not?

I have children. Children who have made mistakes. One child whose mistakes seem to be ingrained, bad habits. Mistakes I am sure have a lot to do with how I have parented him. He's a glass-half empty kid and the glass is half-filled with the wrong stuff. But no compassion from me. His thought patterns trigger at least my intolerance and at most my anger.

Does anyone else see it?

I have scrubbed and soaked, but my eyes go right to his faded stain reminding me of the last times we narrowed our eyes on a mess.

I feel like I have a few choices...1. continue to scrub and bleach and work at this stain 2. ask advice of others ..."see that stain...how do I get rid of it?"  3. toss the tablecloth  4. love it...acknowledge the stain and appreciate the memory

I have a Father who knows my stains, some I have yet to see...but loves me like I'm spotless.

If I can just love Bug like He loves him. Like He loves me.