Cleaning Up

When I imagined motherhood before having kids, I pictured time spent reading books, playing with toys, going on stroller walks, and family meals around the table. What I did not picture, however, was the incessant activity of cleaning up, the chore that seems to undergird it all.

For every five minutes spent reading, another five (or more) are spent picking up the books my toddler has pulled off the shelf. While my kids’ play, I find myself always one step behind, cleaning up the previous activity they have long moved on from. Walks are always concluded with the grand finale of putting up the snack cups and the discarded socks, shoes and toys that accompanied us on our brief stroll around the block. And meal time… oh meal time. I still have yet to comprehend how one tiny human can make such a mess. For our ten precious minutes sitting down together at a meal, I can expect a good thirty minutes afterwards cleaning up and washing dishes. You know the drill!

All this to say, I had no idea what a large percentage cleaning up would play in the everyday demands of motherhood.

Does it matter?

As someone who longs to see the purpose in every activity, I’ve struggled with the chore of cleaning up. It makes up such a large part of my day, and yet, I’ve wondered if there is any significance to it. Does the work I’m doing matter? Does sweeping up crushed pretzels, scrubbing dried hummus off a silicon bowl, or reorganizing the diaper bag…does it matter?

I held this question up to the Lord, and I found myself challenged by his words in Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV):

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

As for the Lord

According to Colossians, we are working for the Lord, and this work is all-inclusive: “whatever you do.” So yes, cleaning up can be an act of worship offered unto the Lord. Yes, cleaning up has ties to an eternal inheritance! When we clean from a heart position of serving the Lord and serving those he has put into our care, God is glorified. God does care about our unseen labor, and if he cares, then I can trust there is meaning embedded within.

I’ve found that this perspective not only brings purpose to our work, it also has the potential to bring freedom.

A Better Kind of Peace

If I’m honest, most of the time, I’m not cleaning unto the Lord, but unto my own sanity! The clutter and mess can drive me so crazy that I find myself with tunnel vision toward achieving cleanliness and order. I can live within the paradigm of believing that internal peace can come only once my home is in perfect array.

But what does it look like when I clean to serve the Lord? It means I am compelled to operate within God’s value system. When I’m serving myself, and it’s between achieving my inner calm and granting a child’s request, I’m going to choose my inner calm and prioritize the cleaning. But when I’m serving the Lord, and it’s between a more organized pantry and a child’s request, I might choose differently.

When we’re cleaning to serve the Lord, we are liberated to assess a situation more clearly. My inner-calm is no longer the priority. God’s will is. And paradoxically, I think we’ll find that when we seek God’s will, we get inner-calm thrown in. We are met with a type of clarity and peace that no amount of organized shelves or sparkling floors could ever bring.