Cleanliness is next to love(liness)
This is not our front porch, but a picture to capture your attention.
Carie and I have a front porch that has been used for years and years and years for storage. Consequently, there is quite a build up of dirt, dust, paint chips and a general feeling of musty nastiness that overwhelms any person who dares to enter its doors. Not to mention the buildup of storage that finds itself enslaved to the room.
Yesterday we went to war with it. Carie and I, a few boxes of trash, and a desire to organize verses this monster of squalor and foulness.
At first we found ourselves with little energy to figure out “what to do with everything,” but as time went on, it grew easier. By the time we had finished for the evening, we were in sync with the project and turning the once nasty room into, at the very least, a place we didn’t hide in shame whenever someone else looked in there.
It was hard. It was hot. At times, Carie and I didn’t agree with what to do with this or that (“throw it out!” “No thats my SI magazine with Ben Roethlisberger on the cover”). But in the end, because we had resided ourselves to finish this long overdue project, we triumphed over the mess.
Relationally, there are times we have a mess to clean up, whether its in marriage, friendship, family life, or work. Our tendency is to leave it as long as possible, or at least until we’re ashamed of it. But it needs to be taken care of, for your health, both mental and spiritual, and for the health of the others in your life.
Its going to be hard. It’s going to be hot at times. And there are times it will flat out suck. But if it doesn’t get taken care of by both parties, it will suck even more.
Now, a question to make you think:
Without naming names, how many relationships in your life need to be ”cleaned up” right now?
Related posts:
