It was my day off and I should have taken a siesta and used the
day to recuperate from the woes of a high school teacher, but no I wanted to
clean (actually I didn’t want to I needed to!). Not just any cleaning, deep
cleaning. The kind where you pull everything out, discard old things,
reorganize, and rearrange. I needed to
get the dreadful process at least started. You can imagine that my two sons
were extremely excited and eager to do this on a Monday off from school. NOT!
They had no choice; Momma had put her foot down. Deep cleaning would be done by
all who lived in THIS HOUSE (except for my husband who escaped with a lame excuse
like having to go to work
J)!
The boys got their assignment, it
was simple: clean your room. My
oldest son went full speed ahead. My youngest son, his process was well…. let’s
just say it was a bit different. He started around 10:00 am that morning and at
10:00 at night (Yep, 12 hours later) he still wasn’t done!!!
Talk about time wasting! He probably came out of his room a million times
saying he was done, but of course I would go in, look into one of the corners
and uncover more hidden (or not so hidden) clutter. Finally at 10:00 pm I told
him we would continue on tomorrow. It was time to call it quits! I was
exhausted by the end of the day. The deep cleaning had almost gotten the best
of me, but I accomplished my goal of at least getting started.
As I sent my son to bed, I surveyed his room thinking about how long it took him to get to that point. Despite the time factor, I was actually impressed with the progress. The once junk pit was
starting to look like a room again. I began to think about this whole deep
cleaning thing. As my mind often does, I started to think of the spiritual
application of this process. The truth is, we ALL need a spiritual deep cleaning (in our hearts). I believe that we can apply these same lessons
I learned from my house cleaning experience to our spiritual deep cleaning process…
1. It
takes time. You want to allow God to do a complete work in you. Don’t rush the process. He does things
in His timing.
2. It can
be overwhelming. As God begins to expose things in you, sometimes the
reality is tough to face. But know that He knows what He is doing. Trust Him to
take the burden and to see you through.
3. It is
not a do-it-yourself project. You
need help. You have to allow God to do the work. A self-help book won’t
get you to where you need to be. It will not yield the same results. Only the
manufacturer knows how the product was designed and how it should operate.
4. It sometimes
reveals things that you didn’t know you had. During the process things
may be revealed or exposed in your heart that you didn’t even know was there. Things
like the pain of past hurt, un-forgiveness, unresolved grievances. We must
allow God’s Spirit to work in us to bring about the heart change that needs to
take place.
5. It is
worth it. In the end you will be more prepared for the purpose that He
created you for; more equipped to handle your destiny.
Though I am far from being finished.
Deep cleaning is in progress in my heart. What about you?
__________________________________________________________
~ Search me, O God, and
know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
~ Create in me a clean
heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
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