Innocence

After a long day, my wife and I decided to stop at a local restaurant. Sometime during our meal, I leaned over to my wife and whispered, "Do you think the waitress seems a bit cold?" I couldn't quite discern what was troubling me.

I noticed a faint smile on her lips, but her communication while professional, held little warmth in her tone. She was well dressed, her hair nicely styled and light touches of make up brought out some color and lightness to her attractive face. Still, there was this sense of coldness that made me take a second look at her and listen closely to her words. She spoke very few words as she passed by the table to hand us the bill.

My wife thought for a moment after she left to serve another customer. "She's had a hard life."

A hard life? What makes a hard life, I thought. Was it wrong choices that seemed right at the moment but led to failure? Relationships that promised joy and bliss only to turn bitter, even violent? Or was it the choices of others that stole the innocence of childhood and completely ruin it with their ugliness and hatred?

I could only think of my own life. Of the many wrong turns, of relationships that violated and polluted my soul, of those who took advantage and exploited my innocence and immaturity. Then there was my hard, steely response in rage and destructive acting out.

As we grow older, the circumstances may change but the shell around our heart to protect us remains. It becomes thicker and harder over the years until we are entombed and cut off from feeling anything good in life.

But God can heal this woman (if she did have a hard life) and He can restore to her and us an innocence that was destroyed by others who were cruel and thoughtless. His blood is enough to wash away our sins of bitterness and forgiveness - purity is restored and love can once flood our hearts - melting away the stony exterior.

Psalms 37:6 promises us, "He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun." (NLT).