Deep Cleaning

Last week, I decided to deep clean my house. My attempt was to clean my 3-story townhome in 2 days. I recall my mother saying, “You didn't make this mess in 2 days, so don't expect to clean it that quick, take your time…” As I thought about time, I immediately said, “No, I will clean it quickly, it won’t take long!”..Thinking this all for the same reasons I didn't want to clean in the first place…TIME. I was already taking out time and energy to deep clean. I was even considering hiring a maid service, to avoid taking the time. However, as I did the research on maid services, I realized this one additional thing that would be sacrificed…MONEY. Not that I cared about spending the money, but more so getting the quality of a clean through a maid service, that I could get doing on my own. Which would I be willing to sacrifice? Time to do the work, or spending the money to have someone else do? One thing I was certain of, I KNEW HOW TO CLEAN my own house. I knew where to place things, what to toss and what to keep (although at times, I kept things that should have been tossed). The same thing I was confident in myself of doing, I had some doubt through a maid service to meet expectations. So I decided to clean my own house.

As I began to clean, I decided to start from the bottom and make my way up. The reason being, the top was way heavier in items and things to clean. As I started downstairs, removing and replacing things, I felt this was more than a deep clean, there was something God was showing me here. I planned to clean my bottom floor and work my way to the kitchen and living room, in hopes of cleaning all the same day. As I entered my kitchen, I looked in disbelief...how did I get this thing so messy? It looked like a tornado hit…Not because it’s normally that way, don’t get it twisted! I do clean my kitchen, however, not to the depth of cleaning that I was about to do. As I was cleaning my kitchen, I received many revelations from God. God was showing me things about my life...Making my way through the living room was simple. Easy peasy! But then came the hard part, the top. To place things into perspective of what God was showing me, my home is similar to my life. The areas of my life, more specifically the top floor, especially my bedroom, is where I spend the most intimate times in my life. Sleeping, showering, getting dressed, grooming myself, etc. It was a place I was most vulnerable. As I began to work on my room, I realized how many clothes, shoes, etc I do not wear. I had to get rid of these things. I started throwing all the clothes on my bed, this would help me start afresh! God was showing me something, He brought me back to the kitchen and how I was tossing expired things. Man, did I have some expired items! Especially in the cabinet and pantry. I never realized, this was why my cabinets, room and closet were so cluttered! The old, expired, unused items were taking space where they didn't deserve. It was time to put an end to this. And wow did it feel soooo good! It was a refreshing that was happening. As I cleaned, it was work, it took time. As my mom confirmed, I didn't do it in the 2 days previously anticipated. In fact, it took almost 1 week to deep clean the entire house, and there are likely still some minor things that need to be cleaned. 

There were old things I was still attached to, even some food items in the pantry I still liked, but did not need or use any longer. Prior to tossing some things, I thought, "should I keep this? Do I need it? What if I keep it a little longer?"...Some clothing items I thought, "can I still fit this? Wow, didn't even know I still had this! Do I really want to give this away?"...It was in these moments, I had to make a decision. I had to talk myself out of keeping a few items. At first it was difficult, but then it became much easier! Wow, so many things I didn't need. 

After my bedroom, came an even worse challenged room. I called this room the ‘messy room’, for the purpose it served well, being messy! A room, I literally threw any and everything I didn't know what to do with in, and shut the door. I hated going in that room, but many times I had to because I needed or couldn't find something I was looking for. Going through mail, appliances, clothing, hair products, journals, books, papers, and so much more! This room was the biggest challenge of them all. This was one of the hardest rooms. However, one thing that kept me focused…I had a vision! I saw the room clean, with items organized in bins. That motivated me so much. More than I can imagine. Thank you Lord for this vision!  It literally took 3 days to fully clean (with breaks of course). I even have before, during and after pictures. I still look at these pictures to remind myself of the work it took. If not, I would forget, and slowly go back to the old room. But God!

Overall, this deep cleaning showed me more of the things of myself that God wanted to show me. I am grateful that I did not hire a maid service to do the job that God wanted me to do. I was able to learn life’s experiences through this simple, yet important task. My life started to show itself...from the mess, disorganization and expired items, to the organization and final results. One thing I noticed is that, although this was a one time clean, I had to keep up with what I cleaned, so that it would not go back to the same mess it was before. Just like life. As the Lord cleans out the unk and gunk of things in our lives, we have to be intentional about accepting the process, and not rushing it. It's important to take the time to review the inventory of our lives. Are there some expired items that need to be ridden of? Allow God to rid us of these things. God can change our lives! I can say for certain, this was not just any deep clean, there was deliverance from my past mess, my old life. God was, and still is renewing my mind. I can look back at the previous state and say, I do not want to go back to this. I will do anything, through the power of God, to stay clean...physically, mentally, and spiritually.