Cleaning the living room . . . . There comes a point in time, when after countless calls to chores and countless living room tidies, Mom calls for "the cleaning of the living room". She wants the shelves & knick knacks dusted. She actually wants the hose on the vacuum used to get the little stuff out from around the baseboards. Most of all she wants the furniture moved. UGH! She wants the cushions pulled from the furniture and wants to look inside and underneath.
This morning I called for the cleaning of the living room. My children are still grumbling as they have gone on to the chores of the other rooms. Yet there in the living room were treasures found. Behind the sofa was the book my son was looking for. Behind the loveseat was the piece to the game so we could play it. Behind the lamp was the part we needed for the Lego car. The small treasures that were the key to bigger pleasures in our life.
Just such a thing to get me thinking. As we sin and apologize to God, how many things vital to life get misplaced in the mess? Where did we lose innocence, trust, love, peace? Where are those things that give us the ability to share with others the goodness God has blessed the world and all of creation with? They are lost among the cobwebs behind the sofa.
We all do the day to day tidies of our life -- Protestant and Catholic alike. We ask God to forgive us for those little things we do each day. Occasionally we bring out the major rags and carpet cleaner to take up a major spill we just made by falling to our knees and begging God's forgiveness. We all do this. Yet, even amongst all this we lose things. We lose our innocence, our trust, our love, our peace. Left long enough we lose our faith because we cannot believe in a God who would leave us in misery and a life so filled with problems. Yet, the problems are the missing pieces which are still there in the living room of our life but they are hidden in the dark corners among the cobwebs. It is time for "cleaning the living room". It is time to pull apart our life and look at all the things we have done that have taken us further from God. It is time to examine all the attitudes we have held onto that have resulted in sin. It is time to search for the scrub brush and the big bottle of grace that will allow us to find all of the things we have misplaced so that we can have joy and the peace of our Lord in our life.
Every Catholic knows what I have described is the sacrament of Reconcilliation. At Baptism God moved us into this beautiful clean house and despite the day to day tidies, there is more that needs to be done. There are those who will after that initial influx of grace relegate Christ to the status of a maid who follows us around as we soil things with sin cleaning up behind us so God never sees the mess we make. Jesus is not our maid. We do not get to continue soiling without care. Jesus calls us to pick up a cross and follow. What did He do when He picked up His cross? He cleansed the world. We are asked to use His grace to clean our world. We are called to return to that cross throughout our life. This is why He gave us such a gift as the sacrament of Reconcilliation.
So, what do you have lost behind your couch?
Last edited by MartiW, 1/24/2007, 10:05 am
--- DEUS meus, ex toto corde amo Te super omnia, quia es infinite bonus et infinite amabilis; et ob amorem Tui proximum meum diligo sicut meipsum, eique, si quid in me offendit, ignosco.
Re: Cleaning the living room . . . . Marti,
I just wanted to thank you for the penguin parables, I discovered them by accident while here on this form and they are truly excellent. God has giving you great insight and a great talent for writing, keep up the good work. It was interesting that after confession yesterday this was the first topic that I opened, and I do thank God for His graces and giving us the sacrament Reconcilliation.
Thanks again and God bless,
Tom
Re: Cleaning the living room . . . . Well, thank you.
It is funny because while many outside the Church think Reconcilliation would be a drudge, it truly is a most joyful sacrament.
One of the neatest things in the world is to sit outside a Church when confessions are heard. You will see people somberly enter all the while moving with a purpose. A while later you will see those same people literally skipping out of the Church. It is truly a lovely thing to watch.
--- DEUS meus, ex toto corde amo Te super omnia, quia es infinite bonus et infinite amabilis; et ob amorem Tui proximum meum diligo sicut meipsum, eique, si quid in me offendit, ignosco.
