ForgottenWoman

Yes, but think about this…

Have you seen anything more disgusting? Yes – this is from my Rainbow vacuum after the first sweep across my den floor. Before I go any further, let me assure you that I’m not looking for cleaning advice, or for all of the reasons I should not have carpet. I love my carpet, hardwood combo and have considered all of the pros and cons. This isn’t an article about housekeeping; although I will share with you that there was a time when my mother-in-law would tell people that my house was so clean you could eat off of the floor. I know she meant it as a compliment; but my house is not intended to be a museum, so I try not to stress about the “cleanliness” like I once did. (Hopefully that’s growth)

So, if you were to walk into my house today or almost any other day, you would not consider it disgustingly dirty – in fact; you would probably think it is clean. And it is. The floors are swept and vaccumed (with a light weight vacuum) regulary. The kitchen is clean, the laundry is running and put away between loads, the school books are all shelved and the toys are all in the toy boxes. Even the couches have been cleaned and sanitized almost weekly. The house is fresh smelling and comfortable – and lived in. In other words: people come and go frequently, I don’t stress over people removing their shoes or dropping crumbs on the floor when snacking. I just routinely clean it up. It’s when I decide to deep clean that I realize that maybe I should use the deep cleaning Rainbow more often than I do. And I will.

So, while I was vacuuming and emptying and vacuuming again and emptying again – determined to get to the bottom of the hidden dust and dirt in the carpet; I began thinking about how clean it had looked before I started cleaning. And honestly – on the surface, it looked good. I just knew that it had been a while since I had really worked to clean deeply; so I thought it was time. What I discovered was that beneath the surface, things were really disgusting – and it wasn’t until I pulled out all of the hidden grime that I saw the difference. I did that Saturday and today every little speck of anything “unclean” is obvious to me.

I can’t help it. My mind went immediately to our spiritual lives. On the surface we may look pretty good. In fact, we may even feel like our hearts and minds are “clean” and “clear” of sinful thoughts, perspectives, attitudes and even habits but reality is a different thing. We just don’t realize it simply because we’ve neglected the deep clean.

In our spiritual lives, the deep clean is the renewing of our hearts and minds through Scripture and prayer. It is the prayer that is willing to look deeply at the corners of our hearts and minds and seeks to root out what shouldn’t be there! It’s not just a surface skimming (light vacuuming) on Sunday, or a surface skimming by a quick read and “Bless this day” prayer. A deep vaccuming so to speak requires time of asking the Lord to bring to light the hidden things that we’ve not acknowledged or realized have changed us: changed our hearts, attitudes, perspectives, priorities, etc. How quickly my carpet goes from clean to filthy. It only takes a few days of skimming without deep cleaning. How quickly my human heart goes from clean to filthy – and how much more important is my heart and mind?! *Now, I know that as a believer I stand righteous before God because of my acceptance of Jesus as my righteousness. But, as long as I live on this earth, I’m responsible to walk worthy of the calling of being His child! That requires intentionality.

The truth is that without the renewing of the heart and mind regularly; I very quickly start to think my lifestyle choices, my thinking, my treatment of others, my priorities and my habits are perfectly fine when in actuality, they are in direct conflict with all that God says about my life! I’m fooled by a facade of “clean” and “clear” and too often; I’m the only one who cannot see what I’ve allowed to happen in my life. My carpet this weekend was a great reminder to me of how important the deep cleansing of my heart and mind is in order for me to live a life that is a reflection of my Savior and His love; a life that isn’t “muddied” by the little by little dripping of wrong ideas, wrong attitudes, wrong priorities, wrong influences, wrong thoughts that after a while change me.

One last thought – this deep cleaning of my carpet was not easy. It took hours of work and left me quite worn out, but it was so worth it. The deep cleaning of our hearts and minds is also hard work but I promise you – it is so worth it!