Looking At the Floor
It’s 10am and I just finished vacuuming my floor for the second time this morning. It’s one of my staying home with my boys mornings, which I have learned by now means I must be showered, have my prayer and workout scheduled and some kind of cleaning plan going. I actually LOVE cleaning, its totally one of my joy triggers. But of course keeping house is a revolving door, with one of the quickest turnovers being the floor. A few weeks ago, after my sister’s brilliant suggestion, we exchanged some 8 year old still boxed wedding registry gifts (yes, they still accepted it back!) for a free Neto (automatic vacuums). I’m totally in love. They tell you a happy homeschool is a happy mom; identify what makes you happy to set yourself up for success…well, a clean floor is one for me! The fact that I can now hit power from a phone app after breakfast, while I read a book on a couch to my kids feels like some sort of miracle. It used to be by the time I swept and cleared counters, they were on to the next thing and I had almost lost my window! This feels like a total game changer. Anyway, all of this had me thinking how much my attention has been focusing on the floor. With our dream first floor hardwood installed, I quickly changed focus to the upstairs floor. We have the original carpet since moving in only 4 years ago, yet I started to tell myself that it’s too old, and needs replacing! My husband casually mentioned we would eventually get hardwood upstairs, and I somehow hooked on that thought - yep, this carpet is a disaster, too many stains, I’ll tell myself, its got to go. With this dissatisfied seed planted in my head, I continued vacuuming the kitchen rug. Then it hit me. And thank God it did. I looked up to see my two boys on their “station benches” as we have been calling them, and I gasped in shame of myself. Alex, look at all you have been given! Are you really going to be looking at the floors!? It was just the analogy I needed as Lent approaches. The analogy of how often my vanity takes hold of my focus to earthly things. How quickly I’m tempted to look “down,” instead of “up.” It’s not a bad thing to have clean, beautiful floors. But oh, how fickle, how fading they are. It’s one purchase, one project on to the next. That path of focusing downward is how the enemy catches us. You know his drill, the unsatisfactory feelings of material wealth, the consuming thoughts of having too little, or desiring the next, no matter how much you are given to begin with! Lord, help us in those shallow, vain temptations! Help us to take the beautiful things in the world for what they are; and find that balance of enjoyment and care, yet detached spirit. I’m so grateful for that small moment of looking up, as I gripped vacuum hose this morning. God’s grace in that little moment. His tender, ever present voice in my every, mundane detail. “Look up,” He said to me. “Stop looking at the floor.”
I pray your focus is on Him this Lent, and all of the wonderful blessings He has already given you.