baby steps

Jesus taught me something today as i was moving out of my apartment. i thought it might be worth sharing. so i was grumbling while i was cleaning my bathroom thinking how no matter what i did to it, it was going to be a lot cleaner than when i first moved in. then i thought about my stupid landlady, and her stupid beard, and that she never fixed anything we called her about, and how this was such a crappy apartment…etc. well, i had moved on to cleaning the toilet, and i had a "brilliant" idea! i'll half-ass it! i mean really, i have every excuse to not clean this toliet thoroughly, my landlady has been so lame! why should i do her any favors?!? this toilet was disgusting, but it is already cleaner than it was when i moved in, so why should i clean it more?

this is where the Holy Spirit stopped me.

Colossians 3:23-24 came to mind, “In whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ”. i felt instant shame. am i not commanded to love my neighbor…and even my enemies? and after all didn’t Christ say that what i do to the least of these i do to Him also (Matthew 25:40)? and isn’t even my bearded landlady made in the image of my God? shouldn’t i be doing all things excellently and for His glory? ..."yes, indeed" was the answer to each question.

i chose not to shrug off the Holy Spirit this time. i scrubbed that toilet as if i knew that Jesus Christ Himself would be returning in only a couple of hours, and He would want to sit on His porcelain throne when He got there. i even got that really icky spot behind the toilet on the floor. it was there when we moved in, but both jess and i avoided it because it was just gross, and you couldn’t really see it anyway because of it’s positioning behind the toilet. i know it sounds ridiculous, but cleaning that toilet was my “duty of the moment” (Catherine Doherty). Christ says my desire should be to become the “last of all, and servant of all” (Mark 9:45).

baby steps…