Yesterday I spend the entire day almost decluttering my house. It felt so good tackling room by room with a giant trash bag ridding our lives of the "stuff" that just got in the way each day. Maybe its odd but I have come to realize lately that I love washing dishes, vacuming and giving Macie a bath. There is something about being able to visually see something become clean that is very freeing and peaceful to me. However goopy that casserole dish is if I scrub hard enough with soap, and bubbles I can wipe it clean and looking new. Seeing the vacum marks in the carpet after its been swept so it looks clean and neat is comforting. Putting Macie in the tub at night and washing her hair until she smells like fresh strawberries and baby powder is comforting. In all of these things its evident to me that I find comfort and peace in cleanliness. When my house is a wreck and I know someone is stopping by I feel blah and want to hide, I think it has something to do with the fact that I have always felt if my house seems organized and clean then my life will seem to be that way also. Its been amazing lately with Fall, the coolness in the air, pumpkin candles burning, the windows open. Its been the atmosphere that makes me want to really get things clean like washing the walls, mopping the floors and washing all the window blinds and curtains. This would be ideal at least once a year and feels so good to have done but last year because I was in the hospital sick so much we weren't able to do those things. Scott tried to keep the house picked up and looking neat but there is something about really scrubbing things down to the core and cleaning it good. Ultimately I don't think our house was grossly dirty but it was somewhat chaotic and disorganized but there came a point where we just got used to living like that and knew eventually we would really get things cleaned up.
There is a Spongebob episode called "The Battle of Bikini Bottom" and in this episode Spongebob is very obsessive about being clean all the time and Patrick his best friend likes being dirty. They battle back and forth about who is right but the truth is that they have just both gotten used to what is comfortable for them. While being comfortable about being clean Spongebob loses the ability to sympathize with any flaws or dirt Patrick has and vice versa Patrick has become ok with being dirty and a mess all the time that he doesnt see what being clean is like and how important it is. So at the end of this episode they end up switching roles and Patrick realizes how great it is to be clean and free and Spongebob gets a little taste of reality and becomes a little less judgemental at Patricks dirt.I wonder which character you can relate to in this episode?
Do you live each day in sin after sin that is separating you and making you a mess before God but yet you have become ok with that because its "comfortable" and eventually you will "really" clean up? Or are you like Spongebob and you live everyday as clean as possible to the extreme that you judge others or think that you are above them or to clean for them and you can't sympathisize what its like to be a sinner also? The awesome thing is that regardless of how dirty you think you are or how much of a mess your life is you can hand it over to the Lord and be washed and made new and shiny in an instant. Psalm 51:1-2 (amplified) "HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin."
God loves you and wants you to live a life free of the dirt and the grime but you have to be willing to step out of your "comfort" zone and allow Him to cleanse you from the inside out, every sin, every flaw, every struggle and imperfection so that He can create a pure heart within you and help you to walk a new life of holiness. That doesnt mean you are going to be perfect like Spongebob and always squeaky clean because we are still human and imperfect, but it does mean that in those moments where we trip and fall in a mudd puddle in life God can clean us off and help us to start again.
Psalm 51:7-10 "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me." I encourage you right now wherever you are at to think about Easter season and the fact that Jesus died on the cross for each of our messes and He can cleanse us and restore us. He can replace the chaos in our hearts and lives with freedom so that right before our very eyes we can witness His cleansing power.
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