WHY AM I CLEANING? - In Sarah Mae's Day 6 post, she asks this question. And then she goes on in Day 8 to ask how we have felt loved and welcomed in other people's homes. While the consideration of loving my family in my home by cleaning does not apply to me since I'm single, I can still consider my guests. Do I really enjoy prefacing everyone's visit with, "I'm so sorry about the mess"? The short answer, No!! By organizing and cleaning all parts of my house I can much more easily focus on others and put all my attention on them rather than constantly worrying about the pile of clothes on the chair where they could be sitting or the random stack of papers in the middle of the floor. I love how she makes the connection between thinking about these things and loving others sacrificially :-) It really is so true! How amazing is it that there are so many ways to show others the love of Christ?!?
YESTERDAY'S CLEANING ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
1. I actually cut out all yesterday's coupons!! Can you believe it?? I'll file them today.
2. T-shirts - So in regards to bedroom cleaning, I have had to go through a giant stack of t-shirts. I've now gone through about 3/4s of them and it's gone really well. I basically had 4 piles>>
a. Everyday wear
b. Sleep shirts (too big to wear out but incredibly comfortable)
c. Shirts to keep for any future children
d. Shirts to be used in a memory quilt
I seem to wear the same t-shirts over and over so I wanted to go through the stack in my closet that I
seemed to ignore. Some of those ignored shirts remind me of some great times, are super comfortable,
and fit really well - now that I have less in the "everyday wear" pile maybe I'll actually remember to
wear these ignored clothes :-)
***My ultimate goal for clothes is to have every item that I wear stored in my bedroom. Right now I have winter clothes in the guest room closet but never move them when winter comes around. I actually walk back to that closet to grab clothes during winter! This is completely inconducive (is that a word?) to when in God's timing I get married...so I really want to be able to figure this out!!
NEXT GOALS:
1. Finish going through the t-shirt pile.
2. Sort all the books in my bedroom.
UNSTUCK:
Another great quote from Chapter 2 - -
"Nearly every believer has felt separated from God,
yet He's 'very near.'
His Word is true, no matter what emotions suggest.
It's a bumpy ride through life if we persist in succumbing
to feelings, which can change like the wind.
But ignoring our inner state is unwise,
for as sensations from physical nerve endings
alert us to outer conditions, so our soul status
often indicates how we need to pay attention
and thus understand how God is guiding our lives."
[Emphasis added by me]
I really like this passage because I've always subscribed to the belief that we should ignore our emotions and follow through in obedience to God even when we feel incredibly emotionally cut off. In addition, I have considered love to be an action of obedience to God's will for our lives, once again, in spite of our feelings/emotions. But this is such a more helpful way to look at our emotions!! If we are feeling off or down, yes, we should be obedient to God's desires despite these feelings (especially in His call for us to sacrificially love others), but we should NOT ignore them!! In fact, emotions may be just what we need to center in on the root cause of our disconnectedness. Like spiritual nerve endings, our emotions can help guide us into a better relationship with Christ and give us a solid focus for our prayers.
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