by Debra Weiss
"Time to clean," I announced as I entered my younger sisters' room. As I surveyed the room, I noticed toys and book scattered on the floor and a stack of clothes in the corner.
I turned toward my sisters to ask them how they could possibly live in this kind of disarray, expecting to see the usual, "anyone over the age of fifteen is dumb" look that they give me instead I was puzzled to see relief on their faces.
I snapped my mouth shut and went to get the vacuum cleaner puzzling over their reactions. Why were they relieved? What had they been so upset over? As I re-entered their room, I looked at it the mess through their eyes. It must be too overwhelming to even consider cleaning, I thought.
Instead of dealing with the small day-to-day messes of everyday living, they'd ignored them. Day after day, the mess grew until it now appeared to consume their room. No wonder they hadn't argued. They'd wanted to clean up their mess but they hadn't known where to start.
I thought of Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Hadn't I been just like my sisters within the last month? God sent a message I needed to clean up an area of my life and I'd been relieved. I hadn't known how to deal with the problem so I'd left it alone. And it had grown. Just like my sisters' mess, I realized.
As I cleaned the room, I thought about how covering things up never solves a problem; it just makes a bigger mess. Slowly we restored order to my sisters' bedroom. As we put away the last of the clothes, I made my sisters promise to resolve their messes as soon as they happened instead of waiting. Afterwards I promised God I’d do the same in my own heart.
Sometimes our feelings of shame and helplessness keep us from going to God in confession but when we don't confess our sins to God, our hearts become filled with our messiness. But God promises to be merciful when we come to Him. In Hebrews 4:15-16, God invites us to come to Him when we need mercy and grace.
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
You've been invited to the throne room of grace, dear sister. Don't stand outside any longer.
1 comment:
Great post as well as a wonderful reminder. It is so easy to say "I'll get to that later" and let things build up. Thank you Debra for sharing this with us.
Post a Comment