I JUST cleaned the kitchen!

Are you one of those people that love a clean kitchen? Does it energize and empower you? Me too.  When my house is out of order, I feel like I am out of order.  The other day my kitchen counters were cluttered with papers that needing to be filed, thrown away, and mail that still needed to be read.  The pile of dirty dishes had grown out of the sink and invaded the remaining counter space.  The dried on food mocked me from between the plates.  Once again it was out of control…I felt defeated even before I had begun to fight back. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to clean because it’s only going to get messy again. Oh well, here I go. It has to be done. I rolled up my sleeves, dug in and whipped that kitchen into shape.  The counters sparkled from the wash down, the dishwasher hummed quietly and no papers cluttered my counters. Yes! I had achieved a sense of calm once again.

Mess

My accomplishment was soon dashed when not even a half an hour later the counters had been overtaken and the sink was overflowing with dirty dishes. Seriously?? I JUST cleaned the kitchen! Who made this mess? Will this ever stay clean? Which one of my kids did this? You could see smoke coming out of my ears from a mile away.

My focus

It was at that moment that God whispered to my heart. He asked me, “What are you focusing on right now? The fact that your kitchen isn’t clean or the reason your kitchen isn’t clean?” At that moment, I realized my focus was on the appearance of my kitchen. I like a clean kitchen and there is nothing wrong with that. I needed to choose at that moment to focus on why the kitchen was messy yet again. There was a mess because my family enjoyed a meal and had their needs met. We had enjoyed time around the table together and memories were made. At that moment, my perspective changed on a messy kitchen.

Together

Now, instead of being irritated when my kitchen is messy, I am going to rejoice in the fact that we spent time together as a family. I will choose to look at cleaning the kitchen as a way of serving my family and providing a place for us all to grow.

I’m so thankful God spoke to my heart that day. I have so much more joy when I clean up the kitchen for the 3rd or 4^th time in a day. Yes, I still love a clean kitchen and I always will. But, now I am choosing to focus on serving God instead of achieving my own success.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for humans.” – Colossians 3:23