“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.” ― Phyllis Diller
Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled; the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. —Simone de Beauvoir
Laundry is, of course a state ,of being never a completed task. The perpetual requirement of housework can be a bit of a grind. No matter how spotless it was five minutes ago, unless you live alone, chances are good it will not remain that way. It seems every time you turn around, chaos theory explodes before your very eyes. You want to hunt down that bothersome butterfly!
It would seem wise to keep things clean, rather than indulge in sudden manic attacks of OCD. Keeping clean requires a vigilance to detail that does not seem to come naturally to any of the members of my household. Then I face the Shakespearean question- to do (it myself) or not to do (wait for teenage boys to suddenly feel the need for order and cleanliness).
I was thinking of this in a spiritual context today, while I was pondering the futility of cleaning the glass door to the laundry room. While I was growing up in the church there seemed to be a very great emphasis on initial experiences of salvation, sanctification, total surrender, being filled with the Spirit etc., and precious little on how to maintain and grow in one’s spiritual life. I remember feeling clean on the inside and thinking…what now? To the best of my remembrance, I was told to read my Bible, pray and share the good news with others. Therefore, I started reading a chapter a day to keep the devil away, prayed until I fell asleep and would have shared with someone if they had asked and I could not find anyone else to help them.
Needless to say, this particular way of Christian living did not lead to overwhelming growth and tremendous spiritual fruit in my life; it also, unfortunately, went on for way too long. Sudden manic attacks of conscience resulting from life pressures would lead me to clean up my spiritual life, but I was not keeping it clean.
Temple cleaning is described in 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 (ESV)
For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Let me make some suggestions for consideration:
We are more aware of what might be defiling to our body, but what might be defiling to our spirit? What entertainment, fantasies, critical spirit, judgment, prejudices, and plain old mean-spiritedness are putting dark smudges on the windows of our temple?
The other lesson I wish someone had told me is that I was responsible for my spiritual growth, not some other preacher, or teacher. I could be as close to God as I wanted to be, but it was up to me.
James 4:7-9 (ESV) says it well,
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
You draw near and He will draw near. Whatever works to challenge you to seek God, do it! I found I needed the discipline and accountability of weekly in-depth Bible study. If I am teaching or facilitating the group, I work even harder.
There are also the footsteps of the great followers who have gone before us. Obviously, they figured something out or we would never have heard of their lives. I started finding my heroes and putting my little size fives into their big footsteps. At first, when my children were small, I did not have time to sit down and read, so I listened to audio recordings while I worked and cleaned and cooked and drove (well you get the picture). My children would probably find the voice of Elizabeth Elliot, Corrie Ten Boom and several others familiar if they heard them today. Challenge yourself with those who make you take big steps not just those who make you feel comfortable.
Everyone needs discipleship, even if they have grown up in the church and heard the stories all their lives. Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I think we sometimes skip over the fact that we will need to be taught to be able to do what He has commanded us. We need to be taught and we need to teach others. Ahead of us on the path of life, someone’s light is shining that we can follow. Behind us, someone is desperately straining to see our light. Let’s keep the glass clean so we will shine brightly before them.