The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
A couple of weeks ago I had 10 days of vacation.
I spent that time cleaning the entire house and putting up Christmas decorations.
I also ended up cleaning my oven.
Something I hate to do.
Something that I procrastinate in getting accomplished.
Something that only took about a half hour to accomplish.
I decided the day I was cleaning my kitchen I would do the oven also.
So I preheated the stove at 200 for about 10 minutes. Turned it off and than put the cleaning spray on the walls and bottom of a very filthy stove.
Shut the door and continued to clean the kitchen.
About 20 minutes later I went back to the oven and started to wipe out all the spray.
10 minutes later, the oven almost looked brand new.
As I was cleaning I felt the Lord speaking to my heart.
This is your heart Angela. On the outside (the stove) it looks pretty clean. Anyone looking at your stove would think it is pretty clean.
Open it up and it is a different picture.
Dirty. Black. Left over remnants of food.
On the outside Angela, you may look like you have it all together for the outside world to see, but on the inside, your heart, there is dirt, blackness, remnants of food left.
I think about the 'dirt'. The 'soil' of my heart where I have not allowed the Holy Spirit to dig deep it's root for the fruits of the Spirit to flourish.
I think about black. The fears I carry around, the obsessiveness, the laziness, the worry, the depression.
Left over remnants of food. Old thought patterns and bad habits.
click on picture to enlarge. it's so pretty,lol.
My greatest desire is for our Father God to open up the 'oven', my heart and see one that seeks Him completely!
Not just when I go to Church. Not when it's time to have Bible Study with the ladies, or lead RCIA classes.
In the day in and day out of life.
When I am getting dressed and putting my make up on.
Making my daughter's lunch.
Writing out my chores for the day.
That the Lord God would truly be the light of my day and my salvation to get me through the day.
Than I need not fear.
Many of you know I run a home daycare.
Which means just because I am home does not mean I can clean my house the entire day.
It means that I am caring for an 11month old just learning to walk, a 16 month old that is beginning to learn to fight for toys with others, a two and half year old who is a two and half year old, a three year old who thinks she is the boss of them all.
I spend my days teaching. Loving. Wiping noses. Repeating myself a MILLION times, 'cover your mouth when you cough, be loving, do you need to go potty, stop shoving all the food in your mouth'.
Crafts, Circle Time, reading books, reading books. Journalling about the children's days, which means writing in three books each day.
Schedule.
Schedule.
Schedule.
The children know after Circle Time we do crafts. After crafts we have snacks. After snacks we go outside.
In between all of this, I will fold one or two loads of laundry.I usually try to start my laundry VERY early in the morning. By 9 a.m. I stop doing laundry and wait till 7 pm. Off peak hours for hydro use has saved our family quite a bit of money.
While the children are playing at Centers, I will take time to write in my prayer journal and praise journal. Some days I will write in there a few times, especially during stress filled and anxious filled days.
Yesterday while cooking supper the three year old spent time with a magnetic board and ABC's. Quitely playing on the floor by my feet while I went about my chores.
Before I 'set her up' for play she was getting into trouble, doing things she should not be doing.
My flesh kept thinking of all that needed to get done.
My spirit man knew she needed a few moments of my time to help her find something that would be a blessing to her.
I have learned taking a few moments to 'slow down', get on the floor, read a book, or just have a cuddle enables me to get back to the task at hand with happy hearts all around.
Me barking at everyone to behave, stop doing that, find something to do, go sit in the corner, keep it up and your going to be in trouble, just makes the whole household stressed and nothing being accomplished with a happy heart.
This just doesn't work with little ones, but the big ones also..lol
Throughout the day I check my 'heart'. See if there is any dirt, blackness, food remnants that need to be cleaned out before our Father. Confessed. Seek forgiveness and than move forward with peace and joy.
Funny what you can learn by cleaning an oven eh?
Thy kingdom come Father God on earth as it is in heaven.
amen amen amen
9 comments:
You made me smile. And, sigh, made me realize I need to put "clean oven" on my to do list.
That oven analogy is perfect for our need to be cleansed inside and out...that the best condition for us is to be clean inside and out. It's so good to see the goodness of God working in your day to day life. What an example you are for the rest of us. Love ya!! (((hugs)))
What a great analogy! God knows our hearts, doesn't he...inside and out!
Thinking about my oven now...better clean it today! :-)
Love you,
Beth
I hate to clean my oven too! Great analogy though!
You really inspired me today, friend! I'm on a cleaning jag now. :)
My fireplace & hearth are all cleaned up and out and my oven has cleaner in it, just waiting to be scrubbed out. The thing I dislike to clean the most is my refrigerator. UGH. I do that in parts, so am going to clean the top shelf today. The bottom has already been cleaned for the year. LOL.
Thank you Angela!
(((HUGS)))
Thank you for your heart sharing with us Angela. I had to smile as I cleaned my oven today also and obtained a few lessons. Mine is self-clean (which I didn't always have) but when I opened the door there were a few "spots" here and there and the smell from the self cleaning is not good and I felt the LORD ministering to me about smells and spots in my life. I love wisdom tools the LORD uses to get my attention and then make change for His glory.
Blessings!
Awesome post sis, love you.
i am impressed by you more every time i read your posts. :) i wish my day was as organized as yours!
Yes, funny, but so profound.
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