Again Lord?

Again Lord? 
He must really be trying to teach me something about cleaning. Or either He has a great sense of humor! 
My in-laws are coming tonight, to spend the night-which is fine- I love my in-laws! But, there's a different kind of cleaning you have to do when your in-laws are visiting. It's different than if my mama comes. I'm not sure why, but it is. Maybe it's a pride thing, because I want my mother-in-law to be pleased with the choice her son made in a wife.  I have even said before, at other times when they were coming for a visit, that I needed to straighten things up, so at least it will "appear" that I have it all together, especially during the school year- which I so do not!  So, as I busied myself this morning with getting things in order, I found spots and scum, dirt and dust that I had "missed" when I had cleaned just three days ago. It was the little things that I had just "gotten use to" and overlooked, not even realizing it's there anymore. You know these things: handprints or door frames, those little spots on the mirrors, the dreaded microwave or refrigerator handle- don't even get me started on blinds and windows! I even found traces of dog hair and the dog has been gone for over a month (that will be a later blog I'm sure!)

Now even if my mother-in-law did see all these things, unseen to me if I had not been cleaning, she would never say anything about it. And trust me, she's seen the good, bad and ugly!
But, I know they are there-hence the last minute scrubbing and dusting taking place today!

In school, when kids have a disagreement or something happens that I did not witness, I often said the to them, "You know in your hearts what happened." As for the grit and grime, we also know in our hearts what is there, if we are a child of God- those things that we seem to "overlook" and don't wipe away. A spot of judgmental attitudes. A stain of slander. A dusting of dirty thoughts. 
Even things like the dog hair. The "dog" may be gone from our lives, but the evidence that it had been there is still around. Sin has consequences. Sometimes we have a big mess to clean up; sometimes it's those little things that don't really seem like a big deal, that we leave alone and grow accustomed to in our lives. We straighten things up just enough to "appear" that we have it all together, spiritually. What we are left with is similar to what Jesus spoke of here:

Matthew 23:26-28

New International Version (NIV)

 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Those are His words, not mine. Just speaking what He evidently is trying to say to me! Now back to cleaning.....