The Redressing

His name is Patches.
He is a scarecrow.
He comes up from the basement every fall.
He always has a prime location near the front door.

I remember when I found Patches.
Someone was having a craft sale in their home.
Patches was one of the handmade items.
He was unnamed at that point; our children named him, Patches.

Patches needed a shirt.
I found an old flannel shirt at a thrift shop.
I put it on the wooden poles that were his arms.
I tied the shirt around the wrists and around the bottom.

For years, Patches wore the same shirt.
It got tattered.
It faded in the sunlight.
That just seemed to add to his character.

Last week, the squirrels which tend to be my nemesis this time of year, damaged Patches.
It was not that the squirrels were trying to damage Patches.
They were trying to get to the corn.
They were trying to get to the two ears of corn that happen to be on the cornstalk.

I opened the front door and saw Patches lying on the ground.
I saw that one of our large pumpkins had been nibbled.
I noticed that some of the small pumpkins and gourds were knocked over.
I was saddened to see that Patches was lying next to the bale of hay.

This happened two more times.
I never caught the squirrel in the act.
Two times I picked Patches up and rearranged the fall decorations.
It was the third time that I saw the damage.

Patches’ head was completely split in two.
Patches was lying on the ground with the cornstalk on top of him.
The pumpkin had been nibbled even more.
A smaller pumpkin was laying nearby.

I was angry at the squirrels.
It is not enough that they bury walnuts in my mulch beds.
It is not enough that they leave walnuts on my deck and porch every day.
It is not enough that they use the concrete floor of my side porch as a nutcracker.

Now, in their attempt to get some corn from the cornstalk, they damaged Patches.
Patches is a part of the family.
Once you name something, it is yours.
Patches greeted my children when they came home from school and now…

I carried Patches to the garage.
I leaned him against the wall in my husband’s garage bay.
When my husband came home he mentioned it right away.
I guess you need me to fix the scarecrow, he said, already knowing the answer.

He took Patches down the basement to his workshop after he finished dinner.
I heard one of his tools being turned on and used.
He came upstairs.
I fixed the scarecrow, but the glue has to dry, he told me.

The next day, he brought Patches upstairs.
He not only glued Patches; He reinforced his head from the back.
He glued and screwed blocks of wood in strategic places.
None of this can be seen from the front, but I know what he did to make Patches sturdier.

Inside the old, thrift shop, flannel shirt were webs and cottony cocoons.
There were no actual bugs in the shirt, but it was easy to see that bugs once lived there.
It was time.
Patches needed a new shirt.

I had an old flannel shirt.
I would dress Patches in that.
I removed the old flannel shirt.
I dressed Patches in my flannel shirt.

I tied the shirt at the wrists and around the bottom.
The shirt looked bright, since it was not faded from the sun.
Patches’ smile seemed to be bigger.
With his newly repaired head and a new shirt, Patches was like new.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.  The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”  Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by. (Zechariah 3:1-5)

I thought about redressing Patches.
I have been redressed.
I had my filthy clothes of sin removed.
I was redressed in robes of righteousness.

Our old filthy clothes are placed on Jesus.
Jesus gives us His clean clothes of righteousness and redresses us when we come to Him in faith.
It is the Great Exchange.
Jesus takes on our sin on Himself and we receive His righteousness.

I look at Patches and see his redressing.
I think of my salvation.
I am so grateful for my new clothes.
I am so grateful for the Great Exchange.

Have you been redressed?
The Great Exchange is for everyone who believes.
You are redressed when you come to Jesus, our Savior, in faith.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.