Soaking

Last night I decided to bleach the grout in my kitchen .

I don’t normally even have bleach in my house so this was an occasion in itself. I put a cap full on a pitcher and retrieved what I refer to is my “pig brush” ( it’s what we scrubbed pigs with in high school) and I was going to knock a layer of high chair debris off the floor.

You never really know how dirty your floor is, I mean I have a good idea, I have 2-3 toddlers and and a baby in my house during the day, we run in and out and we sweep often but I was still surprised. My floor quite literally changed color before my eyes! I steam mopped yesterday! My grout was covered in the tiniest of dirt and food particles, things that easily got wiped over and after time I didn’t even notice that my floor had changed. When I got down on my knees and started to scrub dirt water begin pooling on top of the floor as the bleach water begin to loosen particles buried so deep for so long I hadn’t even noticed.

My heart must look the same way to God, I look at it and think oh its fine there is no mess to clean I just did maintenance with You yesterday. In this season of Lent I am doing a study of Jeremiah called His Love Endures from She Reads Truth, in the midst of the floor scrubbing last night I was reminded that I needed to spend some time soaking in God’s love, so that I can feel like the kitchen floor, free of debris I didn’t even know were a hinderance!

Now my floor was beautiful and shiny this morning but it will not stay that way with out maintaining, the people of my life still need to eat and play, I will cook and we will make messes just like my heart I know the best way to soak away the dirts of the world so that I can clearly see the beauty. God’s cleansing of my sins are eternal, once he has washed my soul he doesn’t need to wash it again and again, so as I enter this season it is this verse I am focusing on

“This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes.. I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them- write it on their hearts! – and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach other about God. They will know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I”ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they even sinned! God’s Decree

Jeremiah 31:33-34 The Message

So tell me about what you are feeling this season! Are you giving something up for lent? If so are using the time saved from that to soak up the Living God? I’ll tell you every year I hope to renew my commitment to getting rid of the excess in my life, I plan to stay off amazon (except for essentials- I still don’t love the grocery store with small children) and we will be donating at minimum 40 items in our home we no longer need want or use, this lent is going to be for getting rid of those tiny hinderances that have become so a part of my life I didn’t even notice they were changing the color of my world.