Retirement, what a joy! Now on Monday mornings I clean my house, wash the sheets, and enjoy the start of the workweek. This morning while I was cleaning, dusting, and mopping the floor these scriptures came to mind.
Psalm 51:1-12
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgement.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. I Samuel 16:7 NRSV
I am not sure if it is my attention disorder or the fact that I want to stop cleaning, but felt compelled to blog at this moment.
Yesterday at church, I read the scripture from I Corinthians 13:4-7 and prayed during the morning service. I wore a suit and a pink tie, even had on my grey colored shoes. The outside looked good. Yet, God and I are the ones that knew how clean I really was. This morning as I was cleaning and talking to myself, I wondered why I felt the need to “clean up” for church.
At this moment the house reeks of Pine Sol®, Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh®, and Pledge®. There’s a blend of odiferous scents wafting through the air. I know that I didn’t move the couch; vacuum under the bed, or dust behind the piano but on the outside this house seems clean.
As I was scrubbing the floor, I found a deposit made by Tuter (my Hairless Chihuahua). I had to scrub and scrub. Then I had to scrape and I wondered what I had fed her. It hit me – LORD what's inside of me that you've had to scrape and scrub. There are sins in my life that I know God has and continues to scrape because of my stubbornness. His cleansing agent, the blood of Jesus is powerful and will cleanse me white as snow.
If anyone walked into my house they would say, “It smells clean." Under closer inspection they would realize it’s just a cover.
Thank you Father, that you wanted a relationship with us even though you knew how filthy we would be…. and thank you that through your grace and mercy, you continue to cleanse us in the blood of the Lamb. Father, you love us with an unconditional love even when we continue to mess up and fail. Help us Father to love each other with the love you demonstrated by sending your Son, Jesus Christ to redeem us.
I thank God; He is better at cleaning than me.
Be bless-ed ~ tío Ween
