A Radiant Face

I power-cleaned my house today because I have a few guests coming next week. Unfortunately, I struggle with discipline, a large house and a 6-month-old. The last two items in that list are wonderful gifts from God, but they both require a lot of maintenance, and without discipline, it's a bit of a challenge.

I love having my house freshly cleaned, the stairs thoroughly vacuumed, floors picked up and counters bare. It feels peaceful and fresh. However, due to my undisciplined nature, it doesn't take long for those counters to collect mail and dishes and groceries and all sorts of things and the floors to be spread with baby toys and empty Amazon boxes. My house needs regular cleaning and daily tidying to maintain its status as a haven of rest, but it rarely gets such routine attention.

Jesus talks about the importance of "cleaning house" in Luke 11:24-26:

"When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first."

This is a sobering illustration. I don't feel like I'm equipped to talk about demons tonight, but these truths apply to habitual sin, as well. When we recognize our sin for what it is and sweep it from our hearts and minds but don't take measures to avoid temptation or develop systems to deal with future sin (confess and repent immediately, for example), we are guaranteed to fall right back into those old patterns. We may have a "clean house," but it won't last unless we develop a "cleaning routine" and stick to it.

Perhaps this analogy seems weak to some of you; I bet you don't have much cleaning to do on the regular. ;) However, this is very real to me now, both the cleaning of the house and the cleaning of the heart, and I hope many of you can identify with these words and be urged to develop some systems, hard as they be, to ensure consistency in both areas of your life.

I turned 26 a month ago, so here are 26 things that have brought me joy in the last month.

1) My baby boy learning how to roll from his tummy to his back. I no longer have to reposition him every 10 seconds when he's playing on the floor!

2) My baby belly-laughing at my husband singing N'Sync hits.

3) Rejoining the church orchestra after a 9-month hiatus due to my tummy becoming so large near the end of my pregnancy I couldn't reach around my cello to play. >D

4) Participating in a spiritual retreat with some dear ladies from my church.

5) My amazing Mom going out of her way to care for my son during said retreat.

6) Discovering my new favorite flavor of ice cream: Homemade brand Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup! Yum yum!

7) Enjoying very warm, sunny weather into October in the Northern hemisphere!!

8) A breathtaking hot pink sunset earlier this week.

9) The new sermon series at my church from the Gospel of Mark. I honestly wasn't expecting much going into it... I know all that stuff already. Or so I thought. The Word of God is living and active!

10) My servant-hearted husband cleaning the kitchen for me far too many times this month even though he has a million other things on his plate.

11) My servant-hearted husband caring for our boy while I got a makeover, had lunch with a friend and got a facial all in the last two weeks! I think I've been having too much fun.

12) Trying out some new makeup and having a blast experimenting with eyeshadow. The only sort of painting I'll ever do well.

13) Listening to Motown and being reminded that I need to listen to it a whole lot more because it makes me feel happy. :)

14) Cleaning some carpets and rugs in my house.

15) Purchasing a cart full of organizational supplies - cupboard dividers, tubs, lazy susans, you name it - so I can get some things off my counters and floors and into cupboards and closets.

16) Playing peek-a-boo with baby boo.

17) Having baby boo fall asleep without fussing while I sing to him for the first time ever.

18) Discovering treasures about God's character in Ezekiel. Again, didn't expect much out of the book. God is good.

19) Trying a really yummy new-ish restaurant with my BFF.

20) Walking to the park and swinging on the playground with my boy. Looks like he loves swinging as much as his mama. <3 font="">

21) Starting a new study in our small group that I wasn't excited about but has brought fresh energy to the group and to my desire to grow closer to these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. I think this is a theme in my life right now. :)

22) Reading a really interested missionary biography - Evidence Not Seen - set in a place that reminds me a lot of the Philippines - a country near and dear to my heart since my husband hails from there.

23) Discovering several wonderful podcasts and finally downloading a streaming app so they're more accessible: Cultivating Life with Sally, Cultivating the Lovely, The Homemaking Foundations Podcast, Risen Motherhood, and God Centered Mom Podcast.

24) Being able to fit comfortably into even MORE of my pre-pregnancy clothes!

25) Laughing with my husband about goofy things like strange dance moves I do when I'm happy about something or facial expressions our baby makes or funny YouTube videos.

26) My husband's almost-limitless patience toward my LuLaRoe and Young Living addictions. >D >D >D

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