I Love To Clean... - A Mother's Heritage

I have a confession to make that will make me seem kind of weird. I love to clean. Yes, you read that right. I love to clean. Let me clarify here. I don’t always like to clean, like when I have just cleaned something up and two minutes later a little one traipsed through the house with their little dirty footprints. I have to remind myself that those footprints are precious whether they are the tiny newborns or the boots of a teenager fresh in from a hard muddy job. In those times I am not jumping for joy that I get to clean..again.

But, I really do love to clean. I am going to get even more weird on you. I get a high from cleaning and organizing. Yup. When I get stressed I organize something or clean with every last detail an area and I feel better. You see, shhh…It’s really OCD.

I always say that if the Lord had not given me children I would be impossible to live with. I would have everything just so. And be able to constantly keep it that way..and it would not be good for me. Children have a way of letting you see just how selfish you are. I like to be in control. And so often I can’t be with 7 young ones. So if I had my nice tidy life, with everything under control..it would not be good for me. I would not be stretched and taken out of my comfort zone.

Walking through my house many days, you will not be able to tell how much I love it, because there are so many signs of little messes created by little people. Bringing order to disorder, detailing every little area to get it just so…I love it.

And this is good. It is how God made me. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of the people I love. You see, too often for me it does. The house gets cluttered, messy and disheveled…and my mind gets cluttered, out of frame and cranky. That when the test is. Do I love my clean house, or my family more? And I am shown my inner sin. Mama becomes discontent, angry and the family feels like they are in the doghouse. I have run over their little hearts for my clean house.

It is at those times that there must be repentance and reconciliation. Hugs and tears and asking for forgiveness. And the little wet kisses on the chubby cheeks remind us that the dirty little feet, the jelly filled faces, the sweaty faced boys and girls are far more precious than a glistening sink and sparkling floor.

So clean, dear Mama, for the glory of God! But, place your priority on the hearts in your home, far more than the hearths in your home!