Christian Living

Coming Clean

by Mary Elder-Criss 
03/14/23
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Coming Clean

Mary Elder Criss

I'm not a fan of household chores. There. I said it. And I said it honestly. I have never enjoyed the drudgery that accompanies being the "little woman of the house." Whoever coined that offensive phrase, anyhow? Compare that to "MAN OF THE HOUSE." It sounds just a bit derogatory to the female race when you stack it up against the power and affirmation that the opposite sex seems to possess. But I digress.

As I said, the responsibility of ensuring all the floors are swept, mopped, or vacuumed, depending upon the finish of said floors, the endless mountains of laundry, and the sheer torture of dusting all the knickknacks and memorabilia isn't my cup of tea. I sure don't leap from bed with a joyous expression and absolute glee at the thought of redoing everything I did less than twenty-four hours before. Well, except for mopping and dusting, because let's get real; I own a 105 lb. German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix named Jax, who lovingly adorns me with a hair suit every day, not to mention the somewhat bearish size of his paws, or as I like to call them, mud traps. Regarding dusting, we also own a wood burner, so unless I want to make myself utterly insane (or more so), that just isn't happening.

Some days are worse than others, depending on the weather conditions. Winter/early spring are the most brutal of seasons, as they are the seasons of MUD. Ugh. There is just no winning as far as being the champion against THAT. However, Summer brings its own challenges with grass clippings, and then there is Fall with the fallacy of wet leaves. I'm not a fan of those, either.

Changing linens and washing quilts is exhausting. Vacuuming every surface of my home daily to eradicate Jax's flyaway hair is better than a 30-minute workout at the gym. That expensive pet hair-sucking apparatus is heavy and better than the weight machines for a whole body regime. Scrubbing the toilet and shower, being the sole observer and eradicator of dried-on toothpaste in the sink and bathroom mirror, isn't my idea of a good time. Folding laundry…well. Do I need to say more? Other than the fact that it is endless, my dryer always runs through at least three cycles before the stuff in it gets folded.

So, as you see, not a fan. To further complicate manners, I am responsible for cleaning my 93-year-old father's house at least once weekly and doing all his laundry. Did I mention he is a slob? I don't think slob even comes close to what my dad is. My mom? She ran a tight ship. There was never dirt in sight while she was physically able to keep up with the housework. You could eat off her floors. Five-second rule? Not a problem there. You could have left that piece of chicken you dropped while making dinner on the floor for half an hour before you retrieved it and still not needed to wash it off.

But dad? Well, dad is in another category entirely. A close estimate would be a cross between a domesticated hog and a Tasmanian devil on speed. I am beyond how a man who barely leaves his recliner can make such a path of chaos in his slow-moving, walker-assisted tracks. I can clean that place from top to bottom and leave at six p.m. one evening with surfaces gleaming, to return within twenty-four hours to what appeared to have been a frat party gone wild. Minus the solo cups. I am sure Mom will be waiting behind a door somewhere in heaven with a frying pan in one hand to communicate her displeasure as to how he has single-handedly demolished her years of hard work. At least, I hope she is because I have been the unlucky recipient of his disgusting lack of respect for the kitchen stove and the living room floor. We won't even mention his bathroom.

However, there is one chore that I sometimes find somewhat less of a horror than others, and I genuflected upon that this morning as I performed it. Washing dishes is satisfying as long as they don't resemble Mt. Everest in size. Getting up to a sink full of dirty dishes almost immediately puts me in a foul mood for the day, so I always attempt to make sure all the plates, utensils, cups, etc., are washed and put away from the night before. Inevitably though, someone decides they need a midnight snack, and a paper plate wasn't sufficient for its journey around the microwave, so most mornings, there will be stragglers in the sink to greet me. Sometimes my husband takes pity on me and washes them before he leaves for work; other times, he does not. Whatever the case may be, and dependent upon my mood, rinsing cups and sponging off the remains of the snack from the plate's surface is cathartic to my soul. It is a chore that is at least somewhat gratifying.

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"- Hebrews 9:14

"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." Psalm 51:2

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

As we see in these verses, only through Christ can we be washed, clean, and saved from the remnants of filth that the world attempts to leave behind. Only through His precious blood can we be cleansed from sin and iniquity. This daily cleansing serves two purposes: to make us worthy of being re-used daily, just as the dishes, and to filter out the impurities that sin and disobedience accumulate in our souls.

As you may have been able to tell, I don't own a dishwasher, so each piece of flatware, glassware, dinnerware, etc., must be personally washed by hand. Christ's blood sacrifice was performed in the same manner. By His hand and His stripes are we redeemed. It was a personal action. Just for me. Just for you. Just for anyone who acknowledges their need for a Personal Savior because we are not able on our own to remove the dregs of this world's corruption.

As the warm water and dish soap thoroughly eradicated the remains of last night's midnight snack, our sins and our unrighteousness is transformed into His righteousness by the cleansing properties of His blood.

Next time you grab a sponge and face washing away leftovers from a sink full of dishes, remember that although it seems to be an endless task that needs performing daily, so too do our accumulations from the world.

So, whatever your hand finds to do, even performed daily, and sometimes feels tedious, remember that you are doing it for the Lord. (Except for dusting; or cleaning up after Dad. Even Jesus understands that it is an endless, thankless task.)

"Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23-24 ESV

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed." Isaiah 53:5