Cleaning Out the Dirt!

I am almost embarrassed to share this but I will anyway...

Yesterday I was doing my normal Monday cleaning and was mopping my kitchen floor. As I was examining my work, I noticed that there was a buildup of dirt on the edge of one of the tiles. I scrubbed it and it came off rather easily. Well, then I started looking closer at the floor and I noticed that practically every tile had a build up of dirt around the edges, it had just built up in these little grooves. Well, in the past I think I thought it was just the color variation in the tile. You know how some tiles have different shades of colors. Well, ours in the kitchen and the laundry room is a light brown, so I had just mistakenly thought the "dirt" was a "color variation".

I was absolutely horrified to know that my kitchen floor was that dirty. I consider myself to be a clean person and I clean my house A LOT. Instead of watching TV I frequently clean. And I do some routine cleaning every Monday, including mopping the kitchen, laundry room, and the bathrooms; so I just could not believe how all that dirt got there without my noticing it!!

So I went to work. I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed that kitchen floor, every tile! And I am glad to say that the dirt is gone!! It really was not too hard, just a little elbow work and it went right away. After I scrubbed it on my hands and knees, I mopped it again, just to make sure I got all the dirt. And later when the boys went down for a nap, I got down on my hands and knees again and scrubbed the laundry room, and all the dirt is now gone from there too!! Next week I will tackle the bathroom floors...

Well, as I was scrubbing I began to hear God speak to me in that still, soft voice. I felt like He was saying, if all this dirt has accumulated on your floor over time without you really noticing it, even when you were "caring" for it, what about your heart? What has accumulated in your heart and mind that you are not really aware of? What is there that needs to be cleaned out by My Word and My Holy Spirit?

Often times we spend time in the Word and in prayer, we check our devotion or quiet time off of our to do list; but do we take the time to sit and soak in His presence, to let Him reveal to us things He wants to work on in our lives, and things He wants to do in and through us? I plan to spend extra time with My Lord, allowing Him to reveal things to me that are on His heart, and listening for that still small voice to give me direction and guidance. I am looking forward to times of refreshing found in His presence. How about you? Do you have some "buildup" in your life that you need to allow God to take care of?