Cleaning for company.  What a joy!…what a nasty job.  It leaves you with a clean home, ready to welcome guests without wondering, “Will they notice the dust bunnies on the staircase?..”  But you cannot just do a “half” job for company!  Not for the in-laws who are staying with you!  You need a hands and knees scrub-brush kinda clean, not a sweep it under the rug quick fix.

It can be overwhelming if you are not good at maintaining neatness.  (I think I’ve got a lot of people fooled there.)  I’ve learned over the past year that the best way to prevent being overwhelmed with cleaning is to keep things clean little by little every day.  It is amazing what 30 focused minutes a day can accomplish!  If they pile up…..I might..FREAK OUT!  You know that when you clean up, you frequently make a bigger mess than you started with before you see any real progress.  *oh the discoveries of homemaking…now I know KNOW my mother was magic.

Is it like this in your LIFE too?..with sin, with stuff, with habits that you need to change?  In my personal quest for holiness and Christ’s character, I find myself becoming overwhelmed at all my piled up junk.  The task seems so great that I want to throw up my hands in defeat before I even begin.

(ahh..at least I’ve got the motion right.)

I CAN throw my hands up! - but not in defeat.  I can cry out to my Jesus to help, to lift me up, to open my eyes to see past all the junk.  He can take it on with me, little by little, until I am scrub-brush clean from top to bottom.  Then daily maintenance becomes key - reading, praying, spending time with Him DAILY.  My 30 minute (or MORE!) self clean-up keeps me healthy and whole, and prevents ick from piling up and overwhelming me all over again. 

All this has been ruminating in my mind since the Dirty Laundry series my Pastor shared at our church.  It’s transformed into a “Clean House” theme for me…clean inside and out.  Dirt under the rugs, unacceptable. 

Do you do daily home cleanups?  Life cleanups?  What is the hardest thing for you to keep up with?  How do you deal with the overwhelming?  Has this changed recently?  Want to share triumphs?  Want to come over and help me clean my house?  : )