Of Kitchen Floors and Dirty Hearts

I love my wood floor in the kitchen. It suits me well. It can be mighty dirty, but with a quick once over or just a swipe here and there—it disguises a lot of crud.

But, there comes a day when I just have to get up close—on hands and knees—and give it a good scrub.

Today was that day.

Two thoughts always run through my mind when I’m knelt here—

1.     This floor is a lot dirtier than I thought.

2.     I really should have done this sooner.

I guess this old floor really isn’t much different from the spiritual floor of my heart. When I’m just a foot or so from the floor, instead of the typical 5-foot distance, I can clearly see and feel the grease caked around the corners—the nicks and dings this old floor has taken by being the most used room in the house.

Perhaps, that’s when we need to tend to the dirt in our heart most—when we’ve been walked upon by dirty feet, smeared with sticky hands— Having been banged and dented, it’s good to be washed right down to the shine.

But, it’s sometimes hard to kneel.

No matter how good we look from a distance, we all could use a thorough scrubbing. And I wonder if when I think myself best, I’m really most dirty. Then sometimes, I know I’m dirty; I just don’t do anything about it.

And I know that I cannot clean myself anymore than this kitchen floor could wash itself.

I need the Word and the Holy Spirit to pour fresh water over me.

Today’s a good day to get cleaned.

And, I sure do love walking barefoot across a clean wood floor.