I’m No Martha
I will freely admit that I am not the best housekeeper in the world. I am certainly no Martha, worried about everything being perfectly in order. I suspect that before the big dinner at which Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping her, Martha had spent days cleaning, cooking, and preparing for the arrival of guests. See Luke 10:38-42. All of which probably wasn’t terribly necessary because I doubt Martha ever let her house get messy or dirty, or her cupboards get bare, in the first place.
Today I have been getting ready for company to come visit and stay the night. As I’ve been cleaning, it has occurred to me that some things would be less work to clean if I spent time each week cleaning instead of waiting until company is on the way. But I’m usually much more like Mary. The house could fall down around me while I read blogs or my Bible or a good C.S. Lewis book and I might never notice. Until we are going to have company; then I realize it’s time to get to work. (Although I have to admit that I am not completely done with my cleaning chores for today, and yet here I am blogging!)
As I cleaned today, it occurred to me that cleaning only occasionally is a lot like only confessing my sins occasionally. If I ignore even the little sins and don’t go before the Lord to ask for forgiveness regularly, they can start to build up and then they are harder to deal with. It’s kind of like that little bit of hairspray that falls to the bathroom floor each day when I style my hair. That tiny bit on Monday doesn’t seem like much, nor does the tiny bit the next day, or the day after that. But if the floor doesn’t get cleaned after a few days there will be a terrible build up that requires hands-and-knees type of scrubbing to get rid of.
I doubt that my cleaning habits are going to change. One of these days I’m just going to hire a housekeeper to do the basic regular cleaning, but until then I’ll keep looking for the great spiritual lessons that can be gleaned from a good deep cleaning session. But today’s lesson has made me more conscious of my need to include confession in my daily prayer.
How about you? Is it time for a deep spiritual clean and a new habit of regular confession to keep those little sins from building up?
Well, now I gotta get back to the cleaning. I may not be the best housekeeper in the world, but with a little help from my son I know I can get this place looking great.
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With 4 kiddos it’s impossible to maintain cleanliness and orderliness beyond 10 minutes! I remind myself that it too shall pass though my heart doesn’t want to. But not with confession — I am not wasting my opportunity to be cleansed by the Holy Cleanser 🙂
Rea, That is the best cleansing of all, isn’t it? And so much more important than housework. Peace, Linda
Wonderful post, Linda, very creative. Hope you had a blessed Mother’s Day!
Bee, Thanks. It seems no matter where I go or what I’m doing, God has a lesson for me. Peace, Linda
Thanks, Linda
I’m way behind in blogging this week. We’ve been doing a bit of renovating and besides not having access to my computer, I just have not had the time.
I read Margaret’s post yesterday http://123hallelujah.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/those-who-dwell-in-thy-house/ and commented how timely it was. I’m reading yours today and thinking that God is really trying to get my attention!
Thanks for the reminders. Praying I’ll put as much effort into ‘heart-cleaning’ as I put into house cleaning. 🙂
Blessings,
ann
Ann, We did some renovating starting a little over two years ago. Everything but two bedrooms and a bathroor was gutted. I know how time consuming that can be. I will have to check out Margaret’s post. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to her blog. Thanks for the link. Peace, Linda
I like this post. 🙂 I go to clean someone’s house each week, but I’m not quite as diligent with my own. haha! Hey, we try. But, when it comes to confessing, I want to be diligent and do more than just try. I usually confess throughout the day as each sin comes up. It may be just an attitude or thought, but if I confess it then and there, Jesus helps me and keeps it from being acted on. It happened just today, in fact. Had to keep confessing and asking for forgiveness. But then at crunch time . . .He had me and all that stuff I thought I’d say didn’t get said. God’s so good. And I want to be good at confessing my sins! Okay, and maybe at cleaning house too. 😉
love you!
Deb, That is so awesome that Jesus helped you “at crunch time”! He’s just terrific that way. 🙂 Peace, Linda