cleaning

I haven't been very active on this blog; therefore I have set a new goal. Get more blog posts up this month then I did in the previous month. I have eight days to write three posts. It got me thinking. What to write, what to write? Initially I thought that I would have an easy time coming up with things to write about. My brain is a continual flow of many thoughts, and I can never stop writing in letters. (I have written over 15 page letters before; wouldn't you like to see a post that long.) However, it is impossible to write for me when I do not have inspiration.

"Everybody needs inspiration." ~Miley Cyrus

You may wonder where and when I get my inspiration. It always depends actually. Sometimes when I am driving a thought pops up in my head of what I can write about. Other times I can not sleep and a blog appears completely written out on my eyelids. Imagine that, it's pretty wierd. As I stare at the ceiling, as I drive the endless miles to work, as I wash the dishes, as I mop kitchen floors and scrub out the sinks. Many times I don't even know what inspired me to write. However most of the times it is the hours I spend cleaning bathroom floors and other places in the house that blog topics or random phrases walk into my train of thought and keep me thinking.

Cleaning is one of my hobbies. It has not always been like that. I used to despise it, perhaps because my mom required me to clean the bathrooms years ago. I clean for other people, I clean our own house, and I often have urges to clean when I am in other places. I am as crazy as wanting to hanging picture frames straight when I am in an office somewhere or dust the shelves in a store. I know, it's pretty nuts, it might creep you out, and don't worry about that, because it creeps me out too at times.
Anyway, as I was cleaning today another thought popped up. Why not blog about cleaning?! I mean I do it just about daily, either in my own house or some other place. It is a regular past time activity of mine, and it gives me lots of time to think. To think about life, about decisions, faith, family, holidays, weather, future, food, reading, who knows what I all think about.

Today it was actually about sin and the cleansing that is offered to sinners.

Even though I enjoy cleaning a lot it sometimes frustrates me. I clean for half my living (sound wierd, I have two different kind of jobs, cleaning and teaching. Cleaning is half my income). ANd do get sick of it at times. It is not that the cleaning itself drives me crazy. It is me that drives me crazy. As I am cleaning my brain thinks,

'really, what is the point of this? As soon as someone showers the shower door is splattered and splashed on again. As soon as someone uses a plate it gets dirty again. As soon as someone touches the doorknob I just cleaned and disinfected, it will be infected and unclean again.'

I then need to come to my senses, call myself back to real life. Whenever those thoughts enter my mind I make them go away. I don't like thinking that way. Why not, you may wonder. Well because it makes me negative. It makes me feel useless, and wonder if I am wasting my time cleaning.
How do I make them go away?
I go back to Christ. He gave us a living example. He washed the feet of the disciples. Not only did He wash their feet, He washed them in complete. The Gospel of John writes about this in chapter 13. Peter asked the Lord, 'dost thou wash my feet?' Peter thinks this is crazy! Why would Christ wash our feet, He is the Master. But Christ responds, 'What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me'(vs 7,8).

Christ washed the feet of His servants, His children because He knew what was to come. He knew that we need the cleansing power of His blood. He knew that without Him we would never live. We would never be part of His Royal family. Without His cleaning we can not live. He not only died on the cross for us to wash away our sins, but He continues to cleans our sins. Each time He forgives our sins we are washed clean. Completely. Washed in the blood of the Lamb. Christ continues to wash our sin away. He never gets sick of it. He never doesn't want to do it. He does it because He loves us!

When I don't feel like cleaning I pray that the Lord will give me the same joy in cleaning that Christ has when He cleaned/cleans my sins away.

Titus 3:4-6 ~

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;