06:22
Unknown
I'm not talking about when the children were younger and hiding away in the bathroom was the only alone time a mom has to be with God. "mommmyyyyyyy" "Mommy's using the toilet darling, just wait" "Dear Lord, I need your strength today . . . ."
No, I'm talking about cleaning. Today is bathroom cleaning day (amongst other things), the day where I focus on the deeper cleaning of the bathroom, the things that don't need doing more often. One of the things I do in that time is work on a long term problem in our bath. Before we moved into this house it stood empty for quite a while, and during that time one of the bath taps dripped. We live in a hard water area and that means limescale, and that means a really nasty limescale build up that runs down the inside of the bath, beneath that tap.
Think about stalactites and stalagmites and how they build up drip by drip drip and you see how this got to be so bad.
For a long time I did nothing about it, but since I have been focussing on getting stuff done around here, each week, when I work in the bathroom I spend 5 to 10 minutes or more scrubbing away at that stain. I use a scrubber and a cleaning paste, scrub, scrub, scrub away.
I sat there and looked at it today as I finished up and I wondered, "Does it look any different than it did when I started today? Can I see any more of what is meant to be there? Can I see any more of the real surface of this bath?" And honestly, today, as in many weeks, the answer is NO. No, I can't be sure that what I am looking at now is any different than what I looked at 10 minutes ago. I can't tell if that gap in the stain is any bigger than it was, or if that edge to the stain is any further in than it was.
BUT
I can see a huge difference from when I started trying to do this. I really do see gaps in that stain that were NOT there when I started. I really do see genuine surface of that bath, where before I just saw limescale build up. It is not my imagination, there is a most definite difference. And today as I finished and wondered, I ran my finger across the surface of that area, and that was when I knew just how much difference I had made, that was when I knew for sure that that really was bath surface and not just a bit of the limescale that looked like the bath.
And I wondered about my relationship with God.
About the areas in which He is calling me to step outside my comfort zones. About the things I have been trying to "do for him" rather than REALLY listening to what He wanted me to do. I thought what I was doing was what he wanted, and in some respects I think it was but I have worked away and worked away at it, for very little visible return. Within the last few weeks I have made an approach (well two now actually) to step outside my comfort zones, to take this work in a different direction than I had ever imagined it taking, to take it in a direction I had told people I couldn't do.
And as I scrubbed that bath today and ran my finger across the surface as I finished, it was as if I felt God run his finger across my life and say "Yes, NOW I really can see a difference, now I am beginning to see what this creation was really meant to look like all along. Now I am beginning to see the real you."
No, I'm talking about cleaning. Today is bathroom cleaning day (amongst other things), the day where I focus on the deeper cleaning of the bathroom, the things that don't need doing more often. One of the things I do in that time is work on a long term problem in our bath. Before we moved into this house it stood empty for quite a while, and during that time one of the bath taps dripped. We live in a hard water area and that means limescale, and that means a really nasty limescale build up that runs down the inside of the bath, beneath that tap.
Think about stalactites and stalagmites and how they build up drip by drip drip and you see how this got to be so bad.
For a long time I did nothing about it, but since I have been focussing on getting stuff done around here, each week, when I work in the bathroom I spend 5 to 10 minutes or more scrubbing away at that stain. I use a scrubber and a cleaning paste, scrub, scrub, scrub away.
I sat there and looked at it today as I finished up and I wondered, "Does it look any different than it did when I started today? Can I see any more of what is meant to be there? Can I see any more of the real surface of this bath?" And honestly, today, as in many weeks, the answer is NO. No, I can't be sure that what I am looking at now is any different than what I looked at 10 minutes ago. I can't tell if that gap in the stain is any bigger than it was, or if that edge to the stain is any further in than it was.
BUT
I can see a huge difference from when I started trying to do this. I really do see gaps in that stain that were NOT there when I started. I really do see genuine surface of that bath, where before I just saw limescale build up. It is not my imagination, there is a most definite difference. And today as I finished and wondered, I ran my finger across the surface of that area, and that was when I knew just how much difference I had made, that was when I knew for sure that that really was bath surface and not just a bit of the limescale that looked like the bath.
And I wondered about my relationship with God.
About the areas in which He is calling me to step outside my comfort zones. About the things I have been trying to "do for him" rather than REALLY listening to what He wanted me to do. I thought what I was doing was what he wanted, and in some respects I think it was but I have worked away and worked away at it, for very little visible return. Within the last few weeks I have made an approach (well two now actually) to step outside my comfort zones, to take this work in a different direction than I had ever imagined it taking, to take it in a direction I had told people I couldn't do.
And as I scrubbed that bath today and ran my finger across the surface as I finished, it was as if I felt God run his finger across my life and say "Yes, NOW I really can see a difference, now I am beginning to see what this creation was really meant to look like all along. Now I am beginning to see the real you."
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