Tag Archives: clean

Oct27

DAY 299 (2014)

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A little cleaning never hurt anybody.

A little cleaning never hurt anybody.

So I dislike cleaning it is my least favorite past time. If I could avoid it I would. However, God in his infinite wisdom and with His ironic sense of humor has made it so that cleaning is something I can not avoid. Why you ask? Well, I am allergic to dust. Yes makes me laugh when I think about it too. Dust is everywhere it is unavoidable, which is why I have a large and unending supply of  allergy medicines that I have to take on a daily basis so that breathing does not become difficult. One of the ways to combat aversion to dust is to clean. Told you God had an ironic sense of humor. I am convinced He allowed this infirmity because He knew I’d never clean any other way 😉 . Today was clean the house day (I do it twice a week to lessen the dust accumulation). as I cleaned my home I contemplated the change that life has taken over the past few month. Then it hit me that what I was doing in my home, was the very same thing that God was doing with me… CLEANING. There were many things in my former home of South Florida that vied for my attention, many things that caused clutter in my mind, in my life. Many of those things God needed to clean up in order to get me to a place where I could be pliable in His hands. Sometimes there are things in our lives that can cause us not to see the path. Dust in our life that makes it hard for us to breath. Let God clean it up. Don’t despise the cleaning. It makes breathing easier.

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).

Lesson: If your “house” is dirty let God clean it.

Mar30

DAY 89 (2014)

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We have the chance to have our inside be as pretty as our outside.

We have the chance to have our inside be as pretty as our outside.

Mmmm. It’d been almost 5 days since I lasted blogged. That was not for lack of lesson, no, just a lack of time. I have been visiting with my brother for the last 3 days. This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland (clearly Buffalo did not get the memo saying it was Spring). It is beautiful outside the world is covered in white and everything looks so pure and pristine. This got me thinking about what was underneath all that white. Odd thought, right? This thought came to mind because I remember what was going on before the snow fell and covered what was there. There are two lessons God taught me with the snow fall. One: We can hide who we are. Right now Buffalo looks like a quiet sleepy town where no harm could ever happen, the view from the window screams post cards and Norman Rockwell paintings. But that is just a picture, a facade for once the snow melts the cities true nature will once again be revealed. In our lives many times the picture we show to others is our version of snow fall, it’s pretty and perfect on the outside, but on the inside it messy and dirty. The second lesson is: We can be changed. It can last, it doesn’t have to be a facade. We all have the opportunity to change, we all have the chance to make the inside match the picture on the outside. This is God’s gift to us. So the choice is this, live a facade that last until the snow melts and all is revealed. Or let God cover us and make us clean from the inside out. “White as snow, though my sins be as scarlet”.

“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

So what’s my plan of attack? Let God do His work from the inside out.

Nov16

DAY 320

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The journey is better without baggage. (Picture by Lisa R.)

The journey is better without baggage.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

I don’t know about you guys, but in my family the garage is not a home for cars. No, it is storage. It is home to all things that we tell ourselves we will need later. Therefore, we need to keep them. However  years, years, and more years go by. So much time passes in fact that we have no idea what we have or what we are saving it for. So today I had the pleasure of paying someone $240.00 to lug all my “stored for later” items away (yes it was painful). The result, an actual GARAGE, a home for my car. NICE! The poor guy was like, “I have been doing this for ten years now, and this is the first time a garage has fooled me.” Hehehe. (We are excellent packers my mom and I). When Mr. Garage Cleaner first saw the garage he said, “Okay this is not so bad.” However as the piles got bigger, and bigger, he started to mumble under his breath, and at one point he exclaimed “&$&… this is a lot of stuff!” Hahaha. We hold on to things needlessly believing that we will need them later. Even today as we were cleaning out the garage my brother found a bag of tennis balls. He was adamant that we keep them, in case we want to play tennis. ??? We have no rackets. After the cleaning finished and I stood in a spacious junk free garage, I had this thought. “Why was I holding on for so long?” I have no idea what was hauled off. Clearly I didn’t need it, I don’t miss any of it.  On this journey we will be tempted to hold on to things we don’t need. This will lead to unwanted baggage. Let go. Clean out your garage. Your car needs a home too 🙂 .

“So why do you keep on following the rules of the world? “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!” (Colossians 2: 20-21).

So what am I thankful for today? A home for my car 😉

Oct22

DAY 295

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A little cleansing never hurt anybody.

A little cleansing never hurt anybody.

I am sorry for anything that is about to be read in this post. I am at this very moment experiencing IRONY, and thought it would be fun to share. A few weeks back I was in the hospital for several days due to diverticulitis (an inflammation of the diverticulum…more information than you needed I am sure). The follow-up treatment is always a colonoscopy  6-8 weeks after the inflammation has cleared up. I am having my procedure tomorrow (nope, this is not a sad sack post…I promise). There is a prep for a colonoscopy, (created I am sure by an EVIL one-eyed gnome for the sole purpose of traumatizing your diverticulum into never inflaming again). The prep is 2 packets that you take five hours apart, they each make 5 fl. oz of liquid. The first round is followed by five eight-ounce glasses of water, the second round (5 hours later) is followed by three eight-ounce glasses of water. I have finished both rounds of prep and have yet to experience any side effect, such as, but not limited to, my colon cleansing. Nope…no cleansing here, still as dirty as ever.  This is a problem, because I have a 7 am appointment with a man who is in for the shock of his life if this medication does not work. Let’s just say his OR scrub will be a whole different color (and scent), if this medication doesn’t work, soon. ( 🙂 I just had a mental picture, and now I can’t stop laughing). Right about now you’re thinking, “Gross” and “What’s your point?” Here it is: We all have areas of our life that need to be “cleansed”. Things that lay on the inside and fester causing inflammation and infection.  On this journey there will be days when what’s on the inside affects how we travel. We need medication. Cleansing is never fun, the medication is bitter, and once it starts working it shows us what’s REALLY on the inside. But once it runs its course, we’re are light, free, fresh…CLEAN.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

So what am I thankful for today? Evil one-eyed gnomes and the chance to come clean (LITERALLY).

Oct6

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

2 Corinthians 13. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (Verse 5). Reality check time. Where is your heart? Who are you really serving? We can be people who outwardly seem to be doing all the right things, saying ALL the right things,,,yet our hearts are far from God. Know where you stand, hold up that mirror. Yes it is uncomfortable, to see our heart at times. But God is gracious to walk us through it. So test your motivation, see what’s inside. The process will hurt. The result will be peace.

Oct5

DAY 278

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Can anything be forever clean?

Can anything be forever clean?

“Cleanliness is next to godliness”. For those of you that are unaware of it, this phrase is NOT actually in the Bible (although for much of my childhood I thought it was). Today as I was cleaning my house, my mind ran across this statement. A smile spread across my face as I recalled times my mom employed those very words to get me to clean (sadly it was not as effective as she would have hoped…clearly I was a little heathen 🙂 ). Why the trip down memory lane? Clean what does it mean? Here’s a better question, can anything ever really be fully clean? Honestly…no. We clean a dish only to dirty it again. We do the same with our house, our clothes, our lives. Life is messy and as we continue on our journey we will pick up the dust, dirt and grime that inevitably comes along with travel. We on our own are powerless to stay clean forever. This to me is why God’s grace is so AMAZING. He is aware of our inadequacies and He loves us still. He has the power to make us clean and keep us that way. All we have to do is ask.  As always I am not asking you to believe because I believe, but I will ask that you seek truth…REAL truth. It’s not hiding. Right now my house is clean, my clothes are clean, and apart from the cup I am now using, the dishes are also clean. However, before this night ends one or more of the previously mentioned items will be dirty again.  Thank goodness I know where the cleaning agents are. 🙂

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

So what am I thankful for today? Knowing where the cleaning AGENT is.

Aug28

DAY 240

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Our lives are meant to be a sweet smelling aroma, refreshing those around us. (Picture by Lisa R.)

Our lives are meant to be a sweet smelling aroma, refreshing those around us.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

So if you have been reading this blog for a while, you are aware of this one thing, my brain does not work like everyone else’s (although this is not necessarily a bad thing). That was my disclaimer, for what I am about to write :). My friends and I have a product that we get from Bath & Body Works, we call it emergency spray (this is NOT the real name). We use it for, well, emergencies, of the bathroom kind, our desire is to leave the environment better (smelling) than we found it. Today, I have, by my estimations consumed an ocean of water (give or take an ounce). Therefore, on my drive to Fort Lauderdale this evening I needed to stop at a public restroom (I try to avoid this normally). Here’s what I learned: Not everyone in the world holds to the philosophy of my friends and I. The person/s that used the restroom prior to me, did NOT believe in emergency spray and thus I stepped into a VERY hostile environment. I struggled through the situation and came out alive and in one piece, although somewhat traumatized. On my drive downtown I had this thought, “Am I “emergency spray”? Do I as a person, leave the environment around me better than I found it? Do I seek the good of others, or seek to further my own agenda? Sadly the answer is not always yes. The world is in disarray, life can be dirty and smelly. Sometimes the people we come in contact with are in need of “emergency spray”, someone to make the “air” around them easier to breath. This journey can get stinky, but we always have the option to break out and be “emergency spray”.

“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15, NIV).

So what am I thankful for today? Emergency spray. 🙂

Aug22

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Romans 4. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Verses 18-21). When your day starts to spin out of control. When it feels that all the promises made will turn into the wind. Hold on to this promise, the same one that Abraham held as true…Be fully persuaded that God has POWER to do what He PROMISED!

Jul18

DAY 199

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Rain washing away the filth of the day... (My drive home Picture by Lisa R.)

Rain washing away the filth of the day…
(My drive home Picture by Lisa R.)

It has been raining all day. South Florida is now one big swimming pool. For the most part I like rain, when I am at home and snugly in my PJ’s, that is. Today I had to work while it was raining. I had to drive while it was raining (this never makes me happy). At first my thoughts went like this, “When will this end?! Is it going to rain FOREVER?!” Then it hit me, we need the rain. We need it to wash away the grime and dirt that has built up in our city, in our state, in our country. Today as the torrential downpour came, it felt as though God was taking the time to cleanse us. To stop us from our hustle and bustle giving us a moment to breath. A moment to mourn the things we have lost. A moment to rejoice in the new growth that comes after every storm. This picture of cleansing was made monumentally clearer after I had a conversation with a patient. She is young and her prognosis is no where near good. She needs a miracle…a real GOD miracle. She needs rain to come and wash away the illness that threatens to make her young child motherless. She needs rain to bring new growth and healing (I pray that God heals her). The truth is this: we ALL need rain. We need it to wash away our filth and cleanse “our” earth…allowing us to start afresh.

“…that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45, NIV).

So what am I thankful for today? Torrential down pours, and cleansing rains.

Jul6

DAY 187

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When the hose breaks and the water pours...God is still on the throne.

When the hose breaks and the water pours…God is still on the throne.

Got schooled by a garden hose today. I decided to wash off the front porch (never do things you don’t normally do, baaad things happen). I went got the hose, dragged it to the front of the house. Laid the nozzle down, went back to turn on the pipe and BAM! Got BLASTED by ALL the water in the pipe. The hose BROKE (we must have garden gnomes too, evil GNOMES!), my brother comes out to rescue me. The nozzle that screws into the pipe has broken off the hose. We need a new hose. I go to Walmart, but they only have 50 or 100 feet. I need at least 200 feet. I am about to leave when I see a box marked “male hose mender”, What?! Wait…why does it say male? Then I see another box marked “female hose mender”, (?????). Why is it separated by gender…then it hits me (ahmmm, I don’t think I’ll explain 🙂 ). I buy the female (if you think reeeeally hard, you’ll understand why). I get home, cut the portion of hose that is broken and attach the new part. I turn on the pipe. Eureka, we have water! As I am washing the hose gets tanlged. I ask my brother to help, he yanks the hose, and the my newly added part breaks in two (turns out the boy has super human powers). Now my brother’s all wet, hehehe 😉 ). It took us several tries: several trips to home depot, several unwanted baths in the front yard,  and the whole day. But we now have a functioning hose. Oh, and my front porch is clean (next time I’m hiring someone). The lesson, sometimes even the simplest things can be beyond our control. There will be days when washing the front porch will turn your front yard into a swimming pool. When it feels like all your efforts are useless. Remember this: even then God is in CONTROL.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28).

So what am I thankful for today? Broken hoses, “male” and “female” menders, and an all powerful, ever present, always loving GOD (okay, and garden gnomes…).