Monday Clean Up

Monday, Monday, Messy Monday. People dread Mondays for many reasons, most of those reasons being work related. For a stay-at-home Mom, Mondays are not any different from any day of the week, but in my case, Monday is always very messy. I have this little rule that I've made and hold tightly that states: "Mom will NOT clean anything (unless it's an emergency hazardous spill or something) on Sundays." It's a rule I have come to love. Well, I love it on Sundays, but by Monday morning, it becomes quite apparent that I took a day off. I look around at my house, dirt all over the wood floors, dishes piled on the counter, dirty laundry tossed in a pile on the bathroom floor, and it becomes very clear to me that I have a lot of catching up to do. That's what I have against Mondays. 

I used to be a very neat-freak kind of person. The kind of person who, if there was a small foreign object on the floor in front of the television, I would have to move it before I could focus on what I was watching. I used to wash each dish before it had touched the countertop for less than 5 seconds. But then I got married. Jarrod means well, he really does, but let's just say we have different standards of cleanliness. And then I had kids. Two boys to be exact. Let's just say I have had to do a lot of adjusting to what my idea of clean is. Jarrod's very wise Grandmother has a saying that her house is "Clean enough to be healthy, dirty enough to be happy." I have put my insatiable desire for cleanliness aside and now choose (or make myself) live by that motto. Seriously, life is no fun if you're constantly worried about the mess. Life is messy. Kids are messy. Especially boy kids. Many of you Moms (and Dads) out there know what I'm talking about- it's like your kids are in a room alone for 2 minutes and it goes from organized to chaos. They're like locusts, I tell you. Going from one room to the next to seek and destroy. They're like enemies of tidiness, assassins of orderliness. I am now to the point in my life where I can roll with the tide of the constant mess and deal with it with the "help" of my children... but then all Mom's know that the "help" kids give cleaning the house often makes it worse- but they are giving their best effort and learning in the process, so we sigh as they, while sweeping, knock over a potted plant with the end of the broom and as the dirt crashes to the floor we count to 10 and say, "That's ok...accidents happen..."<sigh>.


I woke up this morning to what looked like a tornadic event in my great room and realized what I was going to be doing today. Silas, age 4, was outside on the front porch making a "campsite" (i.e. another mess for later). He asked me to pleeeeease come out and play camping with him. I said, "Honey, Mommy has a giant mess to clean up in here." And he said "You don't have to clean it up, just leave it there." The thought did cross my mind. What would happen if I just left it there. Pots, pans, dishes, silverware on the counter. Dirt, dead ladybugs on the floor. Toothpaste goo in the sink in the bathroom. A heaping pile of shoes that were casually kicked off to the side of the front door last night. I am ok with ignoring things like that on Sunday, but I can't let it go for too long. It's just part of me, part of what I see as my job as a mother and wife- to make sure that my house is tidy. So I said, "Silas, I just can't walk past this any longer. It has to be cleaned up. Now. As soon as I'm done, I will come out and play with you, but right now, I have to deal with this."


As I was cleaning, I was thinking and praying. Our hearts are a lot like a house, in fact, our bodies are a home for the Holy Spirit of God. All it takes is one moment to fall back into a sin or destructive behavior. Just like I take a break from cleaning on Sundays, sometimes we take a break from being vigilant against the enemy. We put our guard down- we watch that extremely violent movie filled with filthy language, we go ahead and do whatever it is we do- "just this once won't hurt". But it does hurt. We accumulate sin and we hoard thoughts that are not of our own creation but that of Satan. We cling to our stubbornness, pride, anger, judgmental attitudes, addictions- and then we reach a breaking point, sort of like my Monday mornings. We look around and we don't even recognize the environments of our hearts. And then the clean up begins. We have to deal with the mess.

 When you take a break from cleaning, as I've learned, the work is doubly hard the next day. Kind of like vacation laundry. Isn't that the worst? You have all these great memories and feel relaxed on your ride home from the beach and then it hits you and strikes fear into your heart- VACATION  LAUNDRY!!! NOOOO!!!! Sometimes the mess sneaks up on you and you're caught off guard. Sometimes, you have known it was there in the cobwebbed shadows of your heart and you just chose to ignore it. Some of us just have a few areas we're working on right now and we're being really diligent to change by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and with us. Others have a Monday-sized mess to deal with. But the best part of a messy heart is that we don't have to do all the work- it has already been done for us. Jesus put sin to death once and for all when He took up the cross and sacrificed Himself for us. All we have to do is ask for help. He knows what messes are lurking within us and wants to be the master organizer of it all. Some of the cleaning process is painful and we have things we don't want to let go of. But He promises greater things to replace those sins we're gripping. 

So today, think about the state of your heart. Is it a mess? Have you let some things slip by, seemingly unnoticed? What areas do you feel that you need to ask Jesus to help you tackle first? He knows a thing or two about cleaning up...just take a look at the scriptures below and see for yourself. As you meditate on them, I pray that God begins to stir up your heart and that you might turn over all your junk to Him. He loves you as you are, but wants you to be the person He has in mind.


I always tend to think in songs- this song is lyrically perfect regarding this topic. I have loved it for years (it's an older song) Give it a listen if you have a chance. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpkBOqoRz-g&feature=related

Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.


Luke 6:45
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Psalm 32:3-5
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Hebrews 12:1
Therefore ... let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress...

Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.