Cleaning and Sickness

You guys know that I've been trying to keep my house cleaner for my new year's resolution and you also know that I've had highs and lows in actually doing it.  I've noticed something recently and I'm not joking that this is how it works.  Every time I've spent a couple of weeks really cleaning the house and it's looking pretty good, inevitably I get sick.  While I'm sick, the house gets messy again and I get discouraged and end up back at where I started - feeling overwhelmed.

So the last couple of weeks I was really cleaning my house.  I was going to start over on the resolution and set up some good habits.  And, of course, I got sick.  I don't know if while I'm cleaning I stir up dust and then I'm wiping my nose a lot and putting my hands up on my face all the time and that contributes to getting me sick, but it's very frustrating because normally I'm a pretty healthy person.  I feel like I'm being kept in this crazy cycle and it's hard for me to break free of it.  It's easy to say "Satan is doing it to keep me frustrated and discouraged" but the bottom line is that I need to control my own attitude.  I could let it get me down or I could back on my feet and get to work.  This time, I'm choosing to get back on my feet.

Today, I still don't feel wonderful.  My throat itches and my head feels dizzy, but I feel better than I did.  So instead of looking around the house and feeling like I'm too far behind and I can't possibly get caught up, I'm digging in my heals and working.  It's kind of nice.  I don't feel like I've won the war, but this has been a huge victory for me.  It may seem silly, but this battle has beaten me time and time again and to finally have even one time where I've said, "I'm not going to let this put me back where I started" is a big deal.  I think it's important to celebrate the small victories as well as the large ones - and give the glory to God.  I can't do it on my own.

I have to thank my friend, Casey Husar for this too.   She doesn't know it, but she's been a huge help in this victory.  Back when I posted my blog about my new year's resolution, Casey posted a link to a weekly cleaning schedule.  I downloaded it and printed it out - and left it sitting in my printer for four months.  It seemed like too much and I felt like I had to clean my house first before I could keep it clean with the chart she sent me.  I finally felt like I needed to use it because I didn't know where to start.  It was amazing!  It broke things down and I finally felt like this was something I could do.  I think that's what has helped me be able to get back up this time.  I finally have someplace to start and I know where I'm going.  So thank you so much for your help, my dear friend!

Sometimes we can feel like we need to clean ourselves up before doing something that God has for us to do.  The worst lie we can possibly believe is that God wants us to clean ourselves up before coming to Him.  The truth of the matter is that our own attempts to clean us are futile.  We can't do it.  We can only come to Him and let Him clean us.  When we try to clean ourselves, it's like a child going down to a mud puddle and washing their hands.  No matter how hard they scrub or how long they wash, they will always come to their mother with dirty hands.  It's only when they allow their mom to take them to the sink and gently scrub away the mud with soap and clean water that they will be truly clean.  This Easter season our pastor talked about the thief on the cross.  He wasn't able to go and make restitution for what he had done or give money to the poor or go to church.  He was dying.  Yet Jesus told him that he would be with Him in Paradise.  Jesus cleaned that thief completely with His blood.  Praise the Lord!