With joy and a great sense of accomplishment, I am taking a deep breath of ease.  It’s that unencumbered feeling that follows weeks of deep cleaning and purging our home!  Closets, cabinets, drawers.  All sorted & cleaned.  Many items donated… or just thrown away because we have used them (well-loved them!?) until they are thread-bare!

When the heavy-duty part of the job was done, it was time to give our house a thorough basic cleaning before traveling for a few weeks.  That tedious task of dusting, vacuuming and scrubbing toilets – that task that I sometimes have to bribe myself with peanut M&Ms to get through but LOVE the result!!!

When the house is clean I feel a huge smile spread across my face.  I wander from room to room and just soak in the awesomeness of “home” in its best state.  I get all excited and wonder what guests we can invite for dinner or a game night or just coffee and dessert?  I fall in love with our home all over again and can’t wait to welcome others to enjoy it too!

Nearing the end of this particular cleaning job, I ran the duster along the elegant curves of beautiful maple wood on our piano.  For some reason, such a simple motion, done a hundred times over many years, made me pause.  And I smiled.  Even tired from a full day of cleaning, and still not a fan of the process, I was already beginning to experience the joy of the result!

I thought: “no one else knows this house as intimately as I do… no one else knows the joy that I feel when our home is at its best… this is the home the Lord has given to us and as we take care of it, there really is joy.  There is a deepening appreciation for the gift.  There is a growing desire to share what we’ve been given as our own love of the gift grows.”

It is not a clear-cut analogy (is there such a thing?), but a follow-up thought made me smile even more: “no one knows me more intimately than my Savior… no one else rejoices as He does when I am at my best… this is the life He has given me, the heart where He chooses to make His home and when I take care of it, it brings Him JOY!  When I sense His Spirit moving and working, drawing me toward growth and discipline, there is a deepening appreciation for His many gifts to me!  And I sense a growing desire to share what I’ve been given as my love for Him grows!”

Keeping my home tidy helps me enjoy it more.  I trust it helps my family enjoy it more too!  Making my home inviting for others inspires me to welcome them inside.

Keeping my heart tidy helps me enjoy what the Lord is doing to transform it to match His own.  I trust it brings more joy to His heart too!  Making my heart more inviting and open to the Lord inspires me to welcome Him to occupy more and more of it so it can overflow to everyone around me. 

Healthy habits and diligent effort may not be easy or fun, but the results are worth it.  Every time.