The Joy in Cleaning

     This past Friday was a day of deep cleaning. I was expecting a lot of company on Saturday so Friday I dove into cleaning my house. I tackled areas that had been neglected for quite some time. I cleaned the inside and outside of all my windows, dusted blinds, wiped down kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, vacuumed ceiling fans...you get the idea. Pretty much it was a BLAH day!

    If you have been to my house you know that I have white cabinets. Picture this a 21 month old toddler and white cabinets. I was down on my hands and knees cleaning hand print, after hand print, smudge after smudge from little Meritt and I ALMOST let myself get a feeling of frustration but just before the frustration swept over me I was flooded with the thought that in a few short years I won't have smudges or hand prints to clean. My little girl won't be a little girl she will be a big girl and I will long for these moments of remembering her sweet little hands.


    I then began to pray. Every time I came across a hand print of Meritt's or a smudge made by Meritt I prayed. I prayed that she would grow up and love God more than anything. I prayed that at that very moment God is raising up a young man that is going to be her husband and that he will love Meritt but that he will love God more than Meritt. I prayed for Meritt to have a tender heart. I prayed that she would be quick to listen and slow to speak. I prayed that she would be quick to forgive and be kind to all people. As I prayed these prayers suddenly cleaning didn't feel like the chore that it had started out to be.

    My prayers for Meritt then turned to prayers for my husband, for my family, for my friends. This daunting task of cleaning had turned into such a blessing. As my day came to an end Friday my house was clean and my heart was full. Full to the brim. I felt joy, and a feeling of calmness knowing that my baby, husband, family and friends are all being guarded by our Heavenly Father!! I know that there will be frustrations to come in life's boring tasks but I pray that I remember Friday and that when the mundane tasks come I can turn those tasks into a time of joyous conversation between me and my Heavenly Father!!

Hopeless

      Maybe it is because I am getting older;  or maybe it is because it is the reality of the world we live in but I am overwhelmed by the amount of people living in circumstances that at the time can only be described as hopeless. 

      This is a picture of my beautiful sister in law, Brooke, and our sweet friend Josh. A couple of summers ago my dad coached an inner city baseball team. Josh was one of his players. My parents found themselves picking Josh up and taking him home after practices and ball games. A few weeks later they started bringing him to church. Over the last couple of years I can count on one hand how many times Josh has missed church. He loves my parents and he loves to come to church.

    Josh had been coming to church for 7 or 8 months when he told my dad that he wanted to proclaim Jesus as his Lord and Savior and he wanted to be baptized. It was a Wednesday night and I can still see Josh being dunked in the water and coming up a new babe in Christ.

       Now for the hopeless part of this story...Josh's parents are separated. He primarily lives with his mom in a public housing complex in Jackson. It is the norm to hear gun shots, to talk about gangs and to witness arrests. Josh's brother, a gang member, was released from prison a few months ago and lives with Josh and his mom.

     Hopeless...this weekend Josh's mom has been in the hospital having fluid removed from her heart because she has congestive heart failure. Same weekend...Josh's dad is in the hospital because of terminal cancer.  Josh, this weekend has taken care of himself, found something to eat and tried his best at 13 years old to stay out of trouble.  Saturday night he called my dad to tell him to make sure and pick him up for church. When my parents got there this morning Josh told them of his parents hospitalizations.

    Thirteen years old, 13 years old, Thirteen years young! Josh has more baggage to carry than some people will carry their entire lives. Josh at times makes immature decisions, Josh at times says inappropriate things, but this from a boy who basically is raising himself...hopeless.

    And just when I am completely flooded and frustrated with the hopelessness that is Josh's reality I am reminded of a young babe that was born in a manger, a feeding trough, for barn animals and through all the hopeless circumstances that surrounded this young babe he grew to be a young man and He died saving the world of our hopeless sins.

   I am reminded that true hopeless is not knowing Jesus! I am reminded that Josh while surrounded by difficulty is also surrounded by a Savior who lived so that He could die to save the hopeless to save us all. I ask that you all pray for Josh's current situation and for his parents. I also ask that you say a prayer of Thanksgiving to the God who delivered us all from a hopeless world.