Don't Look There...

My mom is pretty fussy when it comes to keeping a clean house so when I was growing up there were some pretty high expectations about the cleanliness of my room. Like most boys, my standards were considerably lower as there were often more important things to do. Every so often things came to a head and I couldn't do my 'important' things until my room was cleaned. When that happened, the priority was to get the job done as quickly as possible so dirty clothes went under the bed, in the closet and were stuffed into drawers.



My mom is also pretty smart. When I would come out of my room 10 minutes after she had told me to get it cleaned, she knew something was 'up' and came down the hall for inspection. She would begin by opening my closet. If there was no mess there, she would check the drawers and if there was no mess there she would look under the bed. This was my default place to throw stuff when I wanted to 'clean' in a hurry. Sometimes she wouldn't look, other times she did. Most times it was a matter hoping she wouldn't look there... When she did (and she did more times than not...) I had no choice except to clean the mess under my bed and it generally meant that the clean standard in my room just went up a notch which required more time than if I had just done what I was supposed to.

I participate in a weekly prayer meeting with pastors from across Victoria. I arrived late this morning due to a couple of earlier appointments that went long. When I got there, they were singing 'Heart of Worship' by Tim Hughes and were lingering on 'You're looking into my heart'...

As we sang that, I became very aware of my humanity and unworthiness. It was almost like I was saying 'God, please don't look too closely or deeply and PLEASE don't look under the bed...'
I'm glad God is full of grace and compassion. He doesn't condemn us or treat us according to what we deserve. On the other hand He is slow to anger and rich in love. When He sees my 'junk and stuff' He helps me clean it up and get things together.

Gotta go... one of the kids is cleaning up their room....