My Two Brooms

In my broom closet we have two brooms, a shop broom with a wide head and soft bristles, and a smaller, normal house broom. The shop broom does a great job on 85% of our tile floor, but for the other 15% we need to use the smaller broom.

A lot of dirt gets tracked into our home and I often have one of the kids grab the big broom and do a quick sweep so we aren't crunching with every step and tracking it onto the carpet. But those quick sweeps with the big broom don't eliminate the need for a thorough sweep, complete with using the smaller broom along the edges and under the kitchen cabinets. When life gets real busy, I settle for quick sweeping jobs, but just as soon as we can, we get out the smaller broom.

My spiritual life is similar. A lot of dirt is tracked into my life just simply by being human and living. Many times I reach for the equivalent of my big broom--I'll read a shorter Bible passage and pray as I go, but I leave the more detailed Bible study and in depth prayer for another time.

My goal for a quick sweep is to keep the grungies and crunchies away until we can do a more thorough sweep, and the same is true when I do a quick sweep spiritually. It's to keep the grungies and crunchies away. But it doesn't eliminate my need for that in-depth time of Bible study. Time spent with my Bible and a pen--studying, not just reading.

The unfolding of Thy words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
~Psalm 119:130

When you walk about they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk to you.
For the commandment is a lamp,
and the teaching a light;
~Proverbs 6:22-23

Don't just settle for a quick buzz through the Scriptures. Make time—yes, make the time by rearranging things in your life if you have to, to study and linger in, and on, God's Word. It will sweep the grungies and crunchies out of the corners and from around the edges of your life, leaving you clean, refreshed, and full of light.

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Ceramic or Marble?

My husband is a very wise man and I've learned to listen to what he thinks best. One of those ideas was to tile much of the front part of our house, and only carpet the living room. In fact, we have tile from our front door, all the way through the house to the back door, and I'm so thankful! It's saved me countless hours of cleaning since we live in the country and often have weeks of mud. Our tile floor has been a huge blessing, but if we had to do it all over again, we'd go with a tumbled marble. Why? So we can have a fancy floor? No way!

You see, ceramic tile looks real nice, cleans easily and has a nice feel on your bare feet, but it doesn't withstand the normal happenings of children. Often, dropping a table knife will result in a chip—and our dinning room table is encircled with nicks and chips from chairs catching on, and breaking up the edges of the tile.

All that wear and tare is part of life in an active, large household. The problem comes in with the tile. The color is only on the surface, so every chip and nick reveals the true inner color of the tile. Ceramic tile has a pretty exterior, and a pretty ugly interior. The good quality tile flooring has consistent color all the way through, so all those chips and nicks that are just part of life, aren't a problem.

That makes me wonder, what kind of tile am I? Do I simply have a pretty exterior, and am I constantly having to run around to paint the chips to keep my real colors from showing or am I like marble? When marble chips or gets nicked, the damaged area blends in because its inside is consistent with its outside.

God talks about this same problem in His people.

You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' ~Matthew 15:7-9

Now there's an ugly word! Hypocrite. Why did Jesus call them hypocrites?

Hear, and understand. Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man. ~Matthew 15:10-11

In order for something to come out of the mouth it must be inside first. Inside you. Inside me. It's what is inside a person that makes them unclean and ugly. Just like no one wants to see the inside color of ceramic tile, no one wants to see the inside color of a life that is simply wearing a coat of pretty paint.

It's not because of the exterior that we won't use ceramic tile on the floor again, it's because the color is only on the surface and not all the way through. Chips and nicks are an inevitable part of life, so we want to make sure that our inside is consistent with our outside, because sooner or later, it will be seen.

So, what kind of tile are you? Ceramic or marble?

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The Smell of Clean

When my husband walked in and said, “Mmm, it smells clean in here!” it made the hour or two I spent mopping all worthwhile. See, to him, Pine Sol smells clean, which means the house is clean, or at least cleaner then it was.

In our line of business, I've been in houses that have made my stomach revolt when the door opened and the stench rolled out to greet us. Our first priority was to get all the doors and windows open so the breeze could blow through, from there we hauled out all the garbage and tore out carpeting. Once all that was done, if the stench was still there, we knew we could bring in charcoal to absorb the smell. Those houses were hideous when we started them, but by the time we were done, they were new inside and they smelled new, too.

That's what God does in our lives. At times, He has to go in and gut our lives to get rid of the stench then build fresh and new. Other times, He gets out His broom and mop and uses a liberal shot of Pine Sol to fight the stains.

Just like cleaning our house involves work, so does cleaning our lives. We need to allow God the freedom to clean as He sees fit. He sees dirt and stains in our lives that we don't notice because, sometimes, the pattern of our life camouflages the dirt, the sin.

The fragrance of God's forgiveness is a clean smell that others recognize and are drawn to. Just like when my husband walked in and immediately smelled, enjoyed, and appreciated the scent of of our home.

The nice thing is that, when God does the cleaning, we don't have to wait until someone tells us it smells clean to make the process seem worthwhile, we can feel the clean and smell that fragrance of forgiveness ourselves. What a wonderful feeling! What a wonderful fragrance! The fragrance of God's forgiveness and grace in our lives.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;
~2 Corinthians 2:14-15

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