What kind of clean do I want

After reading a blog about Spring Cleaning I was challenged to ask myself the question:


Why do I care if my home is messy or clean? What kind of clean do I want – sparkly clean or picked-up clean?


Let me note, I am in a season with a baby and toddler so I have cut myself some slack knowing there is "grace in the dust".  


There have been a handful of times that my husband has asked (only because I've complained I can't keep up with it) why don't you just have someone help you (we work with the youth at our church and he's told me a few times we can get one of the girls to help me out).  I just have always felt like our home is My domain and I've prided myself on being able to keep it orderly.  But I had to figure out why that was so important to me.  


To me, having a clean home is loving my family by creating a sanctuary; a safe-place. It's saying I care about the environment in which my family lives (we are all less stressed and enjoy life more when our home isn't in chaos).  It's loving God by being a good steward of the home He has given us.  It's loving my children by modeling good habits. It's loving others by having an available home for those unexpected times of hospitality.  


Now for the second part of the question: What kind of clean do I want - sparkly clean or picked-up clean?  I'd love to say my home is sparkly clean but the fact of the matter is, it just isn't!  Like I said, I have a baby and a toddler.  Sure, I could make my home sparkly but instead I've decided to settle for picked-up in this season.  I'll never get this season of life back with my kids, to cuddle them as babies, pour the Word of God into their spirits, read story after story, play cars, or music or blocks etc.  I'd rather spend this precious time building a foundation with my kids that will last and not look back and say, "but I had a clean, sparkly home".  I'll be honest, it's hard at times at the end of the day when I feel like the house is all but clean - floors are sticky and I'm just tired... but then as I tuck my kids into bed and my 2 year old says, "I love you mommy", I know my labor was not in vain and "picked-up" will have to suffice.    

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and we will show our love – by His grace – through a “picked-up”, “clean” home.

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Colossians 3:23-24