Anointed

The devotion I read this morning was based on the scripture of Psalm 45:6-9. One phrase from that passage stuck with me, and I'm going to lift it out for this post -- not for how it relates to its Psalm of origin, but because of the image that this particular phrase created in my thoughts.

"anointing you with the oil of joy" (Psalm 45:7b)
Think about the word "anoint" for a moment. Picture in you mind someone being anointed. What do you see? Do you see a minister touching the forehead of someone kneeling in front of him, placing a symbolic trace of oil on the skin? Or is your image of anointing more like the one in this photograph -- gushing, pouring, abundant?

One of the definitions I found for anointing was "to choose by or as if by divine intervention." Another definition listed anointing as a sign of sanctification or consecration. I have a feeling if we are anointing by God, then that action is abundant -- poured forth in great quantities.

I receive Sheila Walsh's newsletter in my email, and the one which arrived yesterday contained this: "My prayer for you today is that the love of God will fill you to overflowing. I pray that your cup will be so full, you will be drinking out of the saucer!"

Don't we act sometimes as if grace is dotted on our forehead instead of poured over us in abundance? Have you ever seen those little, tiny containers of portable anointing oil? I saw an image of one this morning that was made to carry on your key chain. Do we ever live life as a Christian in a way that seems to say that we can capture God's grace and hang it on our key chain? Don't you think that if we feel like grace is given to us sparingly, out of a dropper -- bit by bit -- that we will act as if it is scarce? That we will hoard it -- keep it to ourselves?

I have to believe that grace isn't like that. God pours grace over us in abundance, so much so that it fills up our cups and spills over into our saucers. God's love isn't symbolic or neat -- it's all encompassing -- it soaks us to the skin and makes us laugh. God's grace tickles us -- we are anointed with the oil of joy!

For a time, when I would kiss J, he would make a joke, and try to rub it off. My answer -- everytime -- was that "'Mom-kisses' never rub off. They sink in and are with you forever." God's love is like that.

What difference does it make? Look at the picture again. If you were standing next to that young boy as he was being "anointed," you would get wet. You wouldn't be able to protect yourself from it -- the splash would be so large that it couldn't be contained to just the boy.

That's the difference between abundant anointing with love and a dot of grace on the forehead. When we understand that we are loved abundantly -- with never-ending, soaked to the skin, never rub off kind of grace, then we can't help but get everybody around us wet. We will be blessed with copious amounts of grace, joy and love, and we will be a blessing.

Images from here and here.