What I Think About When I Clean the Bathroom
Something I do when I am stressed or have a million things on my mind is; I clean. Not just tidy things up a bit, I go all out and I deep clean everything (for the most part) and it literally changes my whole perspective on life and it brings me back to focus. I seriously love to clean because it’s a time when I can do 3 things:
One, I can clean whatever I want and get it as clean as I want. Two, I can think about anything and everything the whole time I am cleaning. Three, literally I hear God speaking the most, and I can have a long dialogue with God while I’m scrubbing the toilet and the shower. In the end I have a clean house, a clear mind, and clearer understanding of my life.
One of those things I’ve been thinking about is what it means to love. There is such a vast amount of opinions, definitions, and personal belief about what it means to love. Love is clearly something that is influential in our daily lives, it’s pretty much the main thing that influences the decisions we make every day.
People make choices based from a place of being loved, or from a place where they lack being loved. It’s interesting as Christians how we sometimes still make decisions as if we lack love, when in fact we are loved by a God who’s love cannot ever be taken away from us. Every morning as we are opening our eyes to a new day God is saying, “I love you”. Are we listening? Do we believe Him when He whispers it throughout the day? Are we allowing God’s love to influence decisions we make daily?
1 John 4:16 says,” So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.
I’m realizing and noticing that in my own life abiding in God changes the way I make decisions, it changes the way I treat others, and it changes the way I think about myself. Abiding in God allows me to love God more, by trusting him, praying continuously, obeying what He says, and having contagious Joy that only He provides.
1 John 4:19 says, “ we love because He first loved us”. How are we going to be able to love others if we first haven’t known the love of our Father? That is how we can love, that is why we are able to make choices out of a place of being loved, because before we can even begin to love others well, we must know and believe He loves us first. As we continue to abide, his love will become more and more perfected within us, to the point where what comes out of our hearts will be evidence of our relationship with the Lord.
All this is pretty basic information, but it all made more sense while i was cleaning our bathroom :)
-Emily
One, I can clean whatever I want and get it as clean as I want. Two, I can think about anything and everything the whole time I am cleaning. Three, literally I hear God speaking the most, and I can have a long dialogue with God while I’m scrubbing the toilet and the shower. In the end I have a clean house, a clear mind, and clearer understanding of my life.
One of those things I’ve been thinking about is what it means to love. There is such a vast amount of opinions, definitions, and personal belief about what it means to love. Love is clearly something that is influential in our daily lives, it’s pretty much the main thing that influences the decisions we make every day.
People make choices based from a place of being loved, or from a place where they lack being loved. It’s interesting as Christians how we sometimes still make decisions as if we lack love, when in fact we are loved by a God who’s love cannot ever be taken away from us. Every morning as we are opening our eyes to a new day God is saying, “I love you”. Are we listening? Do we believe Him when He whispers it throughout the day? Are we allowing God’s love to influence decisions we make daily?
1 John 4:16 says,” So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.
I’m realizing and noticing that in my own life abiding in God changes the way I make decisions, it changes the way I treat others, and it changes the way I think about myself. Abiding in God allows me to love God more, by trusting him, praying continuously, obeying what He says, and having contagious Joy that only He provides.
1 John 4:19 says, “ we love because He first loved us”. How are we going to be able to love others if we first haven’t known the love of our Father? That is how we can love, that is why we are able to make choices out of a place of being loved, because before we can even begin to love others well, we must know and believe He loves us first. As we continue to abide, his love will become more and more perfected within us, to the point where what comes out of our hearts will be evidence of our relationship with the Lord.
All this is pretty basic information, but it all made more sense while i was cleaning our bathroom :)
-Emily