Cleaning House

I was able to see my childhood pen-pal last month when she and I both ended up in LA at the same time (Head in the Clouds).  She and her husband are both musicians and are conducting workshops in Fort Worth this weekend and lucky for me, they opted to stay at my place!  As a result, this evening has consisted of preparations for company this weekend.  

I LOVE having company and sharing my house.  Like most women, I want my it to be warm and welcoming, as well as spic and span.  Therefore, it's only natural that I have spent eve of their arrival getting everything clean and in its place.  Now if you know me or have been to my apartment you know that my OCD tendencies keep my house spotless.  In fact, 99% of the time, it doesn't even look lived in; this is how I like it.  But, I know the areas of my home that need extra attention when it comes to special visitors.  I know the corners and crevices that get ignored on weekly cleaning sprees, even if they go undetected by others.

Quite often I refrain from "detail cleaning" during my weekly clean.  I don't wipe baseboards down every time I clean; I leave my ceiling fans unattended until dust is visible; I often stop at only cleaning the top and seat of my toilets, leaving the base untouched.  I even skip mopping my guest bath sometimes.  These may seem like little things to most people, especially those that are still stuck on the fact that I clean my small apartment every week, but tonight, as I had to work extra hard scrubbing I realized that these "little" areas that I have ignored have still been collecting dust whether I noticed or not.  Because I haven't seen to these areas consistently, I had to work extra hard cleaning them up and getting them ready for my guests.  AND my allergies are going haywire tonight as a consequence of my laxness.

These past few months, my life reflects tonight's cleaning experience.  God is a permanent guest whom I have invited into EVERY part of my "home".  As such, He deserves the cleanest dwelling place, just like my physical guests do.  God is shining light on a lot of "little" areas of my life that may not always be as noticeable to others.  He is working on cleaning the dust and dirt out of the crevices of my heart, mind and soul.  As I daily seek Him, I am realizing just how much filth I've allowed to accumulate in my spiritual neglect.  Like the allergic consequences to the dirt in my house, I am clearly seeing many ill effects of my haphazard approach to spiritual cleansing.    

My prayer, and earnest desire, as I end this night is that God will continue to purify His dwelling place in me, as I present not just my body, but my whole life a living sacrifice to Him.

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

-Romans 12:1-2, The Message-