Our News/Reflections on Cleaning a House

Yesterday morning, our house went on the market.  We have lived here about two and a half years and have made some wonderful friends and enjoyed ourselves.  It is a bittersweet period, but my dear husband is pursuing a new opportunity within his profession that will require a move this summer!  I love seeing excitement in his eyes about his work, and everything has been falling into place so far.

All of this excitement has been part of the reason I’ve written and posted so little lately!  V and I have been talking, thinking, dreaming, praying, and making choices, which all has led to a ton (maybe literally) of cleaning in our house in preparation for selling it.  After the kids have gone to bed, instead of watching a movie or just generally relaxing, we’ve tackled different regions of the house, purging belongings that no longer meet our needs or wants.  What a strange problem to have, when there are so many who do not have enough!  It has been somewhat tedious, but very satisfying work.  Our house is finally looking the way I think we wanted it to look all along.

A few observations as we’ve cleaned:

–picking things up as we’re done is a lot easier than picking up a week’s worth of things (or a month’s, etc.)

–making decisions about papers that come into the house as they come in is manageable, compared to sorting through stacks that have been accumulating for days, weeks, or months.

–having the file box easily accessible all the time means I use it more, eliminating the clutter of paid bills.

–regularly going through our closets and choosing to bless someone else with things we haven’t used or worn in over a year, is easier and more helpful to others than holding on to items “just in case” for over a decade!

–seeing certain toys in the donate pile tends to make them more interesting to our children, despite going unused for months.

–we cleaned more thoroughly at the prospect of buyers coming through our home than we did for ourselves.  I think this is frustrating and sad, and I hope to change it next time around.

As I have been working on tidying, simplifying, and freshening up our house, I can’t help but think about doing all these things inside my heart.  Think about it:  just like our homes, our hearts need a good purging regularly to stay healthy.  Do I have a little stack of bitterness here, or a pile of anger over there, or perhaps a whole box of greed stuffed in a corner?  Just like physical clutter, spiritual and mental clutter is cumbersome and even dangerous if left unchecked for too long.  Sometimes we get to a point where we feel too overwhelmed to know where to start.  Right now, there are still stacks of un-filed papers in my guest room closet.  I groan every time I think about it, but I know I must clean it up as soon as possible!  Similarly, there are spots on my heart that need immediate attention.  We can call it reflection, that leads to confession, that leads to repentance, that leads to forgiveness, that leads to new life–this is the essence of cleaning out the heart, and I have only found One who is sufficient to permanently wash away the stains on my heart.

I am excited to finally share our news more publicly, as more details have fallen into place. I love how rich with instruction these big life changes can be.  I love even more that as I make our home more and more inviting, orderly, and lovely, it reminds me of Him who wants to do the same (and much more!) in my heart every day!  I gladly hand it over!

 

Tags: cleaning a house, moving, salvation through Jesus, selling a house, spiritual health