Due to unforeseen events (aka people coming over), I felt compelled to tackle a task I had been procrastinating…dusting. Not to mention the dust bunnies seemed to be forming an alliance that suggested a hostile attack that even my three cats were not likely to survive. It was time to go to battle. I started with a long wand duster and hit most of the flat surfaces. Then, I vacuumed the rugs, stopping to empty the filled canister. Then, I got the broom and dustpan out and made several trips to the trashcan to unload. Finally, I got out the Swiffer Wetjet. I still had to go around picking up the drowned carcasses of dust bunnies that had gotten hung on sharp objects like floor vents. Exhausted but pleased I collapsed on the couch with a cup of tea and surveyed the clean. Victory!

It occurs to me now that the dust bunny war was a war of my own making. Dust bunnies are a combination of dust, of course, and hair…my hair and the cats’ fur. So, the dust bunnies were a kind of offspring of sorts, mutated but still mine. It also occurs to me that I could have prevented the war with a little effort.

I shouldn’t have procrastinated. At the very least, I should have gotten out the furniture polish or broom at the first signs of dust. Optimally, I should have just cleaned every week whether I saw the dust or not, regardless of who might or might not see it. If not every week, I could have dusted at least every other week. As it was, I had put it off for most of the summer until dust covered everything to the point that I no longer saw it. It had become one with the furniture and was flying under my radar.

Then, I started seeing giant dust bunnies moving, which is never a good sign. Then, someone stopped by to pick something up and I looked at my house with new eyes. I was a little ashamed to let people see it. That is when I went to battle. I literally cleaned house.

This week I had someone try to point out a speck of spiritual dust in my life. While their eyesight was blinded by the plank in their own eye, it gave me pause, so I took a moment to do a little spiritual housekeeping. I found some things that needed working on, not what my uninvited visitor suggested, but like with housework, there is always something that can be spruced up. So, God used for my good what the enemy meant to use against me. He motivated me to finish what I started and gave me a boost of spiritual strength when my own strength was fading.

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” Do you do daily spiritual house cleaning? It is easy to get caught up in the day to day grind and forget to take a moment to do a little upkeep. It is easy to overlook the fact that your roommate has to live here too…aka The Holy Spirit. But, a little swoosh of the duster every day keeps those dust bunnies at bay.

The Holy Spirit is an awesome roommate who is more than willing to flex His spiritual muscles, and He’s very good at cleaning. He can blow all the dust and dirt out faster than any Swiffer and without the leftover clumps hanging around. All we need to do is ask. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” He will do all the work if we will just ask and then let Him work. The work is a lot easier on everyone if it is done on a daily basis or at least a weekly basis, but the longer you wait between cleanings, the more work it takes. So, where is that duster? I know I left it around here somewhere.