Elbow Grease

So I looked in my refrigerator last night as I tossed in two packages of lunch meat and a gallon of milk from my quick trip to Target. I noticed that it was.....well....completely disgusting in there. There were Crystal Light spatters, containers of what I think appear to be left-overs (that fuzzy stuff was blocking my view) and a cucumber that now resembles a piece of beef jerky. There were random eggs rolling around in one of the door compartments. I use the word "were" as those eggs ended up smashed on my equally dirty/sticky floor.

Now before you X outta here and think I am a total slob.....I need to explain. I have never claimed to be Martha Stewart, but I do keep a decent clean house under normal circumstances. Right now it is NOT normal circumstances.....

......we are in the dreaded construction zone.

And we were brilliant to start this construction zone project pretty much the day after Christmas. So not only does the construction zone include our storage area for everything......we also need to have a new storage area to put all the junk from the place we are reconstructing. So we need a storage area for our storage. So this new storage area pretty much is any open floor space we can find. So yeah, I have mattresses and table saws at the bottom of our stairs (because...now that I think about it...... if you fall down the stairs and land on the saw, at least you will bleed to death in comfort). I have a multitude of Rubbermaid containers stacked in the corner of my living room. Some contain tangled Christmas lights, one has about three thousand photos that I do plan on putting in albums before I turn 90 and another has random baby items that I just cannot get rid of and will probably still have when I turn 90(yeah, that's a whole 'nother issue)

There are nine rolls of wrapping paper that I scored at the after Christmas sales. I really need to find a place to store them because not only are they rolling all over the place......they are often being used as fencing swords and weapons. Three have pretty much been rendered useless with all the dents and dingers, but in my defense....Hunter was wide open and I couldn't resist the great shot.

Here's more to the visual for you....(and then you actually have some pity on me because with my ADD and lack of organizing skills to begin with.....I think I might be ordering that straight jacket soon enough). Our dishwasher is broke . On a side note, I'd like to thank Kenmore for making an appliance that will die exactly one month after the warranty expires. I'd also like to thank that repair man for charging us $75 to tell us he can't find out what is the problem and to just turn up our water heater and do a vinegar rinse. Thanks! So there is a perpetual mountain of dishes both in the sink and drying on the counter.

There is an assortment of sheet-rock dust footprints that make a fabulous design on our entire upstairs. They range from "dainty little girlie" size to "Herman Munster" size 14 to softball size paw prints. Funny how they all lead to the refrigerator.

Oh yeah, back to my fridge.....I guess I can't necessarily blame construction on it being gross....I guess it's just that between the daily trips to Lowes, the erratic schedule of Gunner's basketball, getting the barns in order for baby goats in about 8 weeks and getting back into the swing of homeschooling.....I haven't been tending to my house like I should.

So the point is.....if you have ever done construction in your home, you can surely relate to the upside down feeling that comes with it. You also know that during this project, other areas in your home do not get the proper attention and will need some deep elbow grease style cleaning when it's all over.

I am kinda seeing my spiritual life is running parallel in these two ways. But the funny thing is, these two ways are actually nonparallel.

So the first way is that even though our schedule (or lack of) has been thrown to the wind......I have stayed committed to my Proverbs 31 Day Challenge. I have missed a day here and there, but I make sure I double up and give God my first fruits of that day.

It's hard to explain but I really feel that God is opening up new doors/areas in my heart as I read chapter to chapter. Sometimes I feel so convicted as I read all the things I do/have done and how we are warned of the danger that follows these actions/thoughts. Other times I am brought to a place of comfort when I feel reassured of God's grace and mercy for turning it around and doing the right thing. I love the inspiration of knowing that as long as we stay on His path.....we will succeed in life. (which is another thing I want to discuss soon enough....the definition of success)

Now going in the total opposite direction......upon opening my fridge last night, it occurred to me that although we have been focusing all of our efforts into this improvement of our home....our existing home is suffering. This can be applied to my spiritual home, I have been digging deep in Proverbs and sharing what is being revealed to me with my kids....I very well might be leaving other areas in my spiritual home unattended. I mean, it's great to start my day in His Word.....but I need to keep It and apply It throughout my day until I lay my head down.

You see....I am easily distracted and it doesn't take much to pull my focus off. (if you've visited me more than two times, this is obvious)

I can and do have good intentions as I start out my day with Him.....but then.....well, life gets in the way. All it takes is one incident or phone call and I am off track on fall onto that slippery slope of sin. And that is all the enemy needs....that one moment of distraction to slip in.
**to give you an example of distraction, as I am typing, I just noticed a cobweb out of the corner of my eye that is in the shape of the letter Y (which actually means ALOT to me.....something Jennifer at Getting Down with Jesus shared that I have never forgotten....a must read!).

So today.....I am getting my "Mr. Clean" on and doing that spiritual deep cleaning. I need to disinfect that area of pride and remember that sometimes it is better to be kind, rather than be right. That corner of stubbornness needs some serious scrubbing and that shelf of forgiving myself needs be sprayed down and wiped clean. Those nasty containers of left-overs and past hurts, some I can barely recognize anymore from all the crud that has layered over them....need to be tossed.

So excuse me.....I must get to putting on that Hazmat suit and use that extra elbow grease in that fridge of mine. I will admit that I am a little fearful of what I might find in there....and know this will be quite the task. But I also know it is much needed and will be well worth it.

.....oh, and one last thing. If you ever wanted to know.....a tomato does liquefy over time. neat.

Peace~
*~Michelle~*