Miracle of Cleaning

Life is an endless series of train wrecks….

It’s been a months…. I’d like to say it’s been a day, or even a week, but it has been going on three months, and it is hard to remain optimistic. Usually I can, I can just grit my teeth and bear the abuses levied against us by life, but I’ve reached a point where it’s in God’s hands, because my hands are down.

This week is shaping up to be particularly brutal. Three major projects lie at my feet, begging me to finish them, yet there is no time to be found. A factory pounds upon our front door for entrance into the market, which means I will be busy from 7am to 8pm, making it very difficult to finish those projects. My one free day was taken up with a demo that is over two hours away. One way.

She who shall not be named and is related to me through law abiding marriage suddenly announced her arrival in town, which means chaos on levels I have never experienced prior shall be in full swing. The love of my life (or camping with rain, cold, and a lack of sleep), has imbued me with disease.

This week is looking brutal.

The Magic of Cleaning

Today I needed to get my car cleaned. It needed detailing due to years of abuse (and children). So I took it to the car wash. I sat there, planned out my overwhelming day (this post is part of that overwhelming day), and played phone games. What’s more productive than mobile game? Everything…. Even meditation would be more useful.

Anyway, I get the car back 30 minutes later. It looks nearly fresh off the lot. I can see out the front window. I called my wife and apologized for being so hard on her the previous night. There’s some herbal medicine conference thing she wants to go to, and I enthusiastically said do it! It does not require understanding of her passions to understand I should support her. And don’t get me wrong, I said she should, but it was more begrudgingly at first.

A smile painted itself across my face as I drove. The music was just right, and I sang. With a joyful, sing-songy voice, I greeted the people at the drive thru (which I shouldn’t have gone to).

It was exquisite! I felt like Julie Andrews in Switzerland.

Cleaning is amazing. It’s the only thing I could attribute the emotional shift to. Today will still be long. This week will be long. Next week will be long (church activity I’ll talk about next week). But let me tell you, cleaning makes all the difference.

How does a clean space make you feel? How often to you clean it?