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| The day my kitchen looks this clean will be the day…never mind. Not happening. Photo credit: Paul Sutcliffe, FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy,
I’m too old to Trick or Treat. It’s sad but true. So I have to get my sweets the boring way…by going to the grocery store and shelling out the mullah. Which is what I did last weekend, in a moment of weakness. I came home with a big bag of Sixlets.
Remember that candy? It’s like the younger, lesser-known sibling of M&Ms. Mmm.
Well, a few days ago, as I’m wont to do (and yeah, I got excited there for a sec about using the word “wont”) I had a little accident with said bag of Sixlets. This is all very normal for me. Honestly, did I really think I’d get through the whole bag without eventually knocking it over…while open…?
Yep, I spilled half the bag on my kitchen floor. There were Sixlets…everywhere.
I stood there, like a kid in the middle of one of those ball pits, thinking, Nooo and This is going to take forever to clean up and Whhhhyyy haven’t I Swiffered* my kitchen floor in weeks so I could at least still eat all the Sixlets??
So, it’s three days later and I’m still finding Sixlets in random nooks and crannies around my kitchen. And I can’t stop thinking about how much my kitchen floor feels like, um, me. Messy…despite my attempts to clean up.
It’s a pattern: I’ll feel convicted about something…maybe complaining or laziness or impatience. And like the achiever-type I am, I’ll do my best to spruce up. But just when I feel like I’m finally clean and good and all straight-and-narrow proper, I’ll discover another bit of ugly hiding out–or sometimes at painfully obvious center stage–and feel frustrated all over again.
But as I’ve been thinking about this, comparing my weaknesses to the candy determined to take over my floor, God sweetened things up with a reminder I seriously needed:
Melissa, where you see a mess, I see a prime opportunity for my Holy Spirit–the ultimate Housekeeper of your head and heart–to step in and do what He does best.
Ahh, isn’t that awesome? I don’t have to clean me up–can’t, really. No quicky Swiffer action of my own will do the job.
But God, through His Holy Spirit, is in the process of dusting off and wiping down and polishing my mind and heart every day. And yes, I need to play a part–open the door, welcome him in, be open and obedient to his guidance.
But at the end of the day, He’s the one who can reach into the mess and turn it into something beautiful.
Have you ever thought of the Holy Spirit as the housekeeper of your heart? And...is anyone else out there as accident-prone as me?
*Yes, I use a Swiffer. I realize it’s the lazy woman’s cleaning option. But I’ve also just admitted it’s been weeks since I’ve done even that. Martha Stewart and I would not get along.
Also, we have some winners!
- The winner of Kelly Irvin’s latest novel from her guest post last week is Lannette. Lannette, if you could email me at melissa[at]melissatagg[dot]com with your mailing address, I will pass that info on to Kelly!
- The winner of Susan May Warren’s recent release, You Don’t Know Me, following my “He Knows You” post last Friday is Melissa Turner! Melissa, I’ve got the book all ready to go…I just need your address. So if you, too, can email me, that’d be great.
Comments 36
I haven’t had Sixlets in forever! Spilling them on the floor is definitely something I would do. This morning I started my coffee and forgot to put the mug under the dispenser.
Haha, I’ve done that before! I’ve also forgotten the coffee pot at work doesn’t have an automatic pause and pulled the pot out before it was done brewing. But after also starting the microwave on fire at work, causing a coffee mess never seems so bad… 🙂
Oh, Melissa! No wonder you and I have connected so quickly! We are so much alike in the keeping (or not!) of our houses–and our hearts! I love that image of the Holy Spirit as the housekeeper of my heart. So thankful to have a housekeeper somewhere! 🙂
I have a feeling poor housekeeping is a shared challenge for writers! 🙂
Melissa,
I don’t fuss at my kiddos when they spill drinks at the table because they get the “spilling” gene from me. (Actually, I’d love to convince you that I never yell at my kiddos.) Yeah, right.
Hebrews 4:16 — a favorite verse of mine. What I call an “anchor verse.” Thanks for reminding me of it today.
An anchor verse…I like that! 🙂
This is beautiful, Melissa. I love what you said about our weaknesses. I’m always working to fix myself, when what I really need to do is just surrender to what He’s doing in me and let Him do that whole “I’m strong when you’re weak” thing He’s so good at. Years ago, I heard someone say that God has known about all of our weaknesses from the very beginning…we feel shocked and disappointed when we discover a new weakness within ourselves, but He’s not surprised at all. I like that.
Yup, no surprises with God…which is awesome and amazing.
Sixlets!! I might have had to eat the spilled ones. Just doing my part to build my immune system, you know? Love those things.
Well, I’m not going to lie…each time I found a sixlet in a new place I faced the same dilemma: to eat or not to eat. I drew the line when I found one under the garbage can.
Reminds me of a post I read from Chad Allen recently where he talked about the knots in wood and how they are really flaws, but how we tend to look at them in beauty…anyway, a worthwhile post to check out.
~ Wendy
Ooh I need to check it out for sure.
Oh yeah, He’s definitely the cleaner of my heart. And I so get what you’re saying. Just about the time I think I’ve got things all spruced up, I see another mess…beyond thankful He doesn’t see it that way;) And that He loves me enough to patiently clean it…again!
Yeah God’s patience with us is beyond amazing… 🙂
The “Holy Spirit–the ultimate Housekeeper of your head and heart.” Love this. Let me tell you, I keep Him busy cleaning me up. I’m so thankful for grace.
Grace is pretty much the best thing ever…
I like this! I just need to remember to let the Housekeeper do His job and stop trying to take over 🙂 I totally remember Sixlets, too! Yum!
Yeah, I think trying to take over is generally my downfall. 🙂
I always had been prone to a little clumsiness now and then. I usually end up knocking over freshly poured orange juice or iced tea or something equally sticky and fun to mop up. Once, I knocked a container of jasmine tea balls out of the fridge, and just like your Sixlets, Melissa, they ended up going everywhere! I have to admit, I put some of them back in the cannister because it was the tea was a gift from my sister. She’d just traveled all the way back from China with said tea and it was sentimental as much as it was deelish tea. (And I figured when the tea steeped in the hot water, any germ still living on those suckers would surely die.) lol!
God does indeed have a way of grabbing our attention and cleaning up our hearts and lives when we focus on Him versus the smaller, inconsequential things in life.
Hehe, I would’ve saved the tea balls, too! 🙂
I never win ANYTHING! This is so cool! Thanks!
I laughed out loud at that Swiffer comment – because I probably would have thought the same thing…and then maybe checked to see if anyone was looking…
Housekeeper of our heart – that’s a good word. We can’t do the cleaning ourselves, so we need to let HIM do it.
Woohoo, yay for you winning. Thanks for sending me your addy. I’ll get the book in the mail right away this week. 🙂
And yes, I’m having grammar/typo snafus this morning. Please overlook.
(That’s what staying up too late does!) 🙂
🙂 No grammar nazis allowed around here, so you’re safe… 🙂
Absolutely, the Holy Spirit is the cleaner of my heart. And I don’t care how dirty my floor is, if you blow anything off it’s good. lol
I had to explain sixlets to my son yesterday. He found some in his Halloween stash.
A big love on the post today, friend. 🙂
Thanks a bunch, Jess. And yay for your son discovering the wonderfulness that is sixlets…
Great post, Melissa. I think you might have crawled in my head. I often feel like this too. As much as I like to be all squeaky and shiny and put together, I fear that I am truly a slob… when my emotions are frail, when my doubts win out, when I literally have baby food on my cheek and little bits just blew snot in my hair. I’m clumsy and I’m messy but you are right-no mess is to big for God, and somehow He loves us in spite of it all.
Your comment made me smile. Baby food…and God’s love. 🙂
Ah, Melissa, another thing we have in common. Don’t inspect the corners of my kitchen floor too closely, but happiness happens here often, especially w/ the grandkids.
Yay for grandkid happiness!
I love the idea that the Holy Spirit is the housekeeper of our soul. Have you ever read “My Heart, Christ’s Home” by Robert Boyd Munger? This post reminded me of it. 🙂 Enjoy the remaining Sixlets!
I haven’t read it, but now I want to!
Your posts always bless me big time, Melissa and your wisdom reminds me who I really am: God’s kid. And that takes all the worry out of life and pushes me hard to be a better kid. Thanks Melissa.
And yes, I have a swiffer too. Have I used in the last two-three weeks? No.
Thanks for the comment, Casey. I love that–God’s kid. What else I love? The fact that I’m not the only one who neglects cleaning duties…
Martha wouldn’t like me, either. I only clean when I know company is coming. Great post. Love thinking about the Holy Spirit being the housekeeper of my heart.
Thanks, Pat! Methinks you deserve to not clean…yay for three-book contracts!!