I don’t know about you all, but I feel like I’ve been on a quest for the perfect vacuum my entire adult life. I now have three. Our house has central vac, it’s awesome for hardwoods, tiles and linoleums, but it’s not so good on carpets. Then I have this Dirt Devil, aptly named, that is very good for carpets and scatter rugs, but not good on hardwoods or linoleums. Then I have this little stick vacuum that’s good for spot cleaning dog hair when I don’t want to pull out one of the others. I often think of the prairie days when they had dirt floors, used a straw broom to sweep them clean and called it a day. It makes my three vacuums look excessive.
Anyway, I was vacuuming last Saturday and noticed something I’d not before. You know when you have indoor and outdoor animals you just have dirt and lots of it. You also know that, for some reason, you can’t seem to get it cleaned up on the first swipe or two. So, I usually go through with the central vac and pick up the big stuff. Then, I go through and do the rugs with the Dirt Devil. Then, I repeat that exercise a few more times. For some reason when vacuuming, you can go over a spot, and turn around and there’s a dog hair tumbleweed tumbling from under the couch that you just vacuumed under. Where does it come from?
On cleaning day, if I’m feeling super energetic, I drag both vacuums to the second floor and do the same exercise, which is a rarity. True to form, last Saturday I ran out of steam on the first floor so I thought, I’ll just run my little stick up the stairs and in the middle of the floors on the second floor. You know, a lick and a promise.
Here’s what I noticed that I hadn’t before – my stick vacuum has a headlight on it! Who knew they made vacuums with headlights? I had never noticed it until I was vacuuming the stairs – you know, all those nooks, crannies and crevices that dog hair, cobwebs, barn dirt tuck into? I thought, dang, this is so cool! Then I thought yuck that’s just gross! With my other vacs I just assumed I was getting all the dirt up, even if I had to take a good many swipes. But, with the light on my stick I could clearly see the spots I was missing and the dirt that got left behind. I could only see the dirt because of the light. It doesn’t mean the dirt wasn’t there, it means that the light revealed it.
When I think of light, my mind goes to Jesus. As I’m vacuuming those gross stairs and thanking goodness for the light on my stick, my heart suddenly says, thank goodness for the Light – thank goodness for Jesus! I thought about all of those nooks, crannies, crevices and cracks in my heart that have all kinds of dirt stuck in them – sins, fears, anxieties, unforgiveness, busyness, lack of focus, not just the surface dirt that is out in the open that all can see, but all those little things that seep into the cracks of our hearts that we just can’t see without the Light. How do we begin to clean up that dirt that is revealed by the Light?
Submit yourselves then to God…
James 4:7
Are we ready to listen to God? Are we open to his instruction? Are we open to obey? Are we willing to submit our lives to the King of Kings? Are we willing to say, Lord, I am Yours?
Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
James 4:8
Next time you’re cleaning around your house, think about cleaning around your heart. If your vacuum doesn’t have a light, shine a flashlight where you’ve just vacuumed and see how much dirt you missed in the cracks of your heart. Ask the Lord to reveal the dirt in your heart that needs to be sucked up and swept away. We cannot do the heart cleaning on our own, we must have the Light. When we submit ourselves to the Lord, when we bow down, only then will He lift us up.
Find me here at Your feet again
Everything I am
Reaching out I surrender
Come sweep me up in Your love again
And my soul will dance
On the wings of forever
My heart beating
My soul breathing
I found my life
When I laid it down
Upward falling
Spirit soaring
I touch the sky
When my knees hit the ground.
Hillsong United