We don’t all clean the same way – some of us involve others in the chore.

This Saturday I was minding my own business when out of nowhere I got conscripted into a war I wanted no part of.

My wife, Lily, is battling an extreme case of eczema and to take her mind off the itching she decided to organize things in our laundry room / work room.

She went downstairs to get a puzzle, thinking that would be something simple to keep her mind distracted. But something went radically wrong.

I heard drawers open that you would not open if you were looking for a puzzle. And the time it was taking her to come back upstairs was way too long.

That should have been a hint to me to quickly change my immediate plans. I should head out the door to run an errand.

I didn’t do that and instead kept on reading. After a time I heard Lily say, “Hey, I’m doing some cleaning and I need your advice on some things.” 

She is the neat one out of the two of us. So I started wondering why would she need my advice on cleaning anything. 

When I had finished reading I asked her what she wanted my advice on. That’s when I found out I was getting conned into something evil. She wasn’t really cleaning anything; she was actually sorting and purging things in the laundry/work room.

I really didn’t wanted any part of it, but she started in on me with questions like, “What is this and do we still need it?”

Now Lily could have started anywhere in that room and probably seventy percent of the cleaning would not have involved me at all. However, she chose to start in an area that only I had the expertise to make decisions on.

Earlier that morning before she was even awake I had thought about what my day was going to look like. By the time she was getting going in the morning I had my day pretty well organized. 

So when she roped me in, I could see this might take over and keep me from my plans. I resisted, but the questions kept coming: “What about this, and this?”

… I remember helping out a friend once who was putting in a new water heater. He needed help and it was time sensitive. I was busy at work but, hey, it was an emergency so I dropped everything I was doing and went to help.

This was different. Lily didn’t need to organize that drawer. In fact, when the draw is closed, you would never notice it needs organizing. … But the rest of the room clearly does to anyone who takes one step inside. 

Some people just like to involve others when they clean and I married one. 

I guess, in the end, it will make it easier for me to locate things I might need in the future.

This morning I kept it to one drawer and then I stayed far away from the laundry room until the dust settled.

Here’s the thing: I wonder how often God has asked us to do something we didn’t want to do or had no intention of doing. Maybe it was a decision to make or an action to take or an invitation to make Him the boss of our life. But instead of getting involved, we turned away. It would not be a great way to respond in a marriage and it’s worse to respond to God that way. In the end, following through on God’s promptings will benefit you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What might God be calling you to right now that you are resisting? Leave your comments and questions below.

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