But things are different now and that fact suddenly broke through old attitudes and habits. "What does one of these cost?" I asked myself. "Five dollars? Six? I think we can afford that now." And the next week on our once a week trip to town (we still don't make extra trips at two gallons of gas per trip), I bought myself a new trash can for the bedroom.
And now Keith has decided that we can afford to have our house cleaned every other week. I can't deny that my old age ailments make doing it myself a lot more difficult and painful than ever before. However, it does cost extra money. [Actually, I did not want this godly woman wasting her energy and time cleaning and then being too tired to prepare these posts and her classes, kw inserted.]
So he found a young Mennonite woman who is an excellent cleaner and hard worker, and who charges half the going rate to boot. We give her a substantial Christmas bonus so she won't go out of business any time soon.
Do you know the hardest part of having someone clean my house? Actually letting her clean it. I want to go around the day before she comes cleaning bathrooms, dusting shelves, and scrubbing floors. It's too embarrassing to let someone else see my dirt. Why am I like this? I could blame my mother, a perfect housekeeper who kept our home spotless with everything in its place. But it probably has a whole lot more to do with pride and plain old embarrassment.
That may be the problem people have when it comes to conversion. Do you know how many times we have heard, "I have some things I need to work on first?" As if things so monumental, in our minds, that they will keep the Lord from accepting us, are things we can easily handle on our own. Even after years of NOT being able to handle it on our own. Do you really think the Lord hasn't already seen your dirt?
While the Lord certainly expects us to clean up our lives when we commit them to him, he never expected us to do it beforehand and without his help, and he was willing to spend an awful lot to make that help available. Stifle your pride and embarrassment. Come "just as you are" and let him help you change that.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30).
Dene Ward