I read somewhere that “dust gives a home a warm
fuzzy feeling.” Now, if I’m being
truthful, I probably read that on Facebook or Pinterest. I was thinking of this statement as we spent
our Labor Day weekend cleaning our home.
I mean, serious cleaning. We emptied out bedrooms and swept, dusted, and
rearranged. We carried out bags of trash
and things to give away. The bedrooms
look great! Today we were given an extra
day off school, due to fog. With that
extra time, we finished the last bedroom, then I proceeded to clean my office
to the level of tolerable, and rearrange the man cave. When that was done, I
mowed the yard.
The reason this all came about was that the level of
dust in this house probably could have blanketed a third-world country. The dust and cat hair under the beds alone
was so bad; you would have thought we had a Yeti living here.
I’m not sure how this happens. We are relatively clean people. We sweep, but we sweep what we can see. Actually, my daughter sweeps; it’s her
chore. My son, who is nine, is in charge
of dusting. That may be a clue in this
mystery. I’m not even going to get into
what may be happening in the bathrooms, as I haven’t gotten that far yet. My other daughter is in charge of cleaning
those. My job, aside from my day job, cooking
all the food, and the running kids around, is laundry and mopping. The laundry gets done. The mopping is sketchy. I need to work on that. Or maybe I could trade with the boy and do
the dusting, and try him out on the mopping?
Hmm… I may be on to something here.
I read in a book once about a house that was
self-cleaning. Imagine, a self-cleaning
house. It probably involves some
technology that I won’t figure out. Just this year, we bought a stove with a
self-cleaning oven, and I don’t know how to use it yet. I will tell you that I am a huge fan of the
flat top cooking area. That is also my
job to clean and it is a breeze compared to the other stove. It is also stainless steel, and I’m pretty
sure it is the sexiest kitchen appliance around. That was my comment to my husband when it was
delivered. “That is the sexiest
appliance I’ve ever seen.” (So I don’t
get out much; sue me.)
It feels so nice when things are cleaned up around
the house, don’t you think? I try to keep things clean, but inevitably I will
find a cobweb or some dust somewhere that I missed. Something always happens
and the clean house isn’t so clean anymore. The cats will come in and shed all
over the freshly-swept carpet. Kids tromp through the house with their friends,
and in just moments, leave a trail of dirty dishes, food wrappers, half-opened
backpacks and Legos in their wake.
I think it feels that way with life sometimes too. You are going along just fine, then there is some dust or a cobweb that happens to dirty things up. As often as I try to clean up my soul, I can’t get it ever completely done. Just like I can clean the house and it just gets dirty again, I can attend worship and listen to worship music, but I cannot get rid of the cobwebs and dust in my soul; not forever. Only God can do that.
Only when we give ourselves over to Him completely can we feel truly cleaned up and free. I’m so glad I can count on my God to cover that part. Because the cat just shed on the floor again, and I have my hands full.
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