Black as Marove, White as Snow
By Elin Henderson
“He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean.”
John 13:8
Every few months I brave the elements and hike down to the rice fields about 2 miles from my house. The long trek starts downhill in white, coarse sand, then suddenly the earth changes and you find yourself in this massive expanse of marshlands. The white sand gives way to a thick black mud that is laced with roots and decaying leaves…better known here as marove. Needless to say, my anxiety levels start to spike when I can’t see the ground I am treading upon and thoughts of creepy crawlies start invading my head. My friends all think I am crazy and assure me that there are no snakes or such, but I am never so sure!By Elin Henderson
“He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean.”
John 13:8
After wandering around working in the rice fields for an hour or more, often knee-deep in water and muck, we emerge from the abyss and climb to the local fresh spring. Here each one takes turns washing her legs caked in black mud. The first time I went, the ladies I was with nearly had a heart attack when they saw my legs post-swamp. They had never seen black mud on white legs and couldn’t figure out how I managed to get so dirty! They each took turns trying to scrub this black, cement-like mud off my legs. They did the best they could, but it would be days of soaking before my toenails and fingernails would be clean!
I have never forgotten that experience and how shocked the ladies were at my depth of filthiness. Recently, I was reading in John 13 of the Last Supper and how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Peter wanted to refuse, but Jesus told him, “You get dirty at times in this world and need your feet cleaned.” Not only do I think of the saving grace that washes us white as snow the moment we believe, but I also think of the cleansing the Holy Spirit needs to do as we tread in this unclean world. There are many times we get knee-deep, caked in dirt and sin, and it takes the scrubbing of the Holy Spirit through His Word or fellow believers to get us back to white again. How He longs to keep us sensitive to the marove we often find ourselves coated with, to recognize its presence and to go to Him for cleansing.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What “marove” in your life needs to be washed away? What steps could you take today to start that process?
FURTHER READING:
John 13:5; Psalm 51:7b
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin Henderson and her husband Phil serve as church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is mother to nine-year-old Callie and six-year-old Elias.
