Guys, bear with me; this is not a problem that men usually deal with, though sometimes I have wished that they did. But many of us women struggle with it, and I have suffered years of stress and anxiety because: I think my house has to be perfectly clean. Last night my daughter was reading a book at the kitchen table, and she was using the pepper shaker turned sideways on top of the book, to keep it open while she read. I envisioned pepper spilling everywhere, got angry, took the pepper shaker away, and said, "Hold the book open yourself." This morning when I was confessing my sins to the Lord, that attitude came to mind right away.
This runs very deep in me. When I was a child, I didn't enjoy watching the Three Stooges because they made messes and didn't clean them up. No kidding.
Mom gave my sister and me Saturday cleaning chores. I remember complaining that my sister didn't straighten up the place well enough, and I would go around behind her and put away all the stuff that she had neatly stacked. It was a jealousy thing; I wished I could be as popular and well-liked as my sister was, but socializing wasn't my strong suit. So I decided to be the one who did everything right. What self-esteem I had was built on that.
And all these years later I found myself still believing the lie that I couldn't be a good person unless I kept the house perfectly clean. But Romans 5:17 says that righteousness is a gift that we receive from Jesus. For free. So, next time I see a mess in my house, Lord, please remind me that you took away my old, sinful self and gave me the gift of righteousness, and I don't have to do any work to keep that gift.
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