I have been working hard lately to get my house in order.  With the day-to-day responsibilities of homeschooling our two girls, I find that keeping our home picked up can often take a hit.  While I am working hard to be more on top of keeping it tidy, if you opened my dresser drawers, you would often find them in great disarray.  

I will admit that laundry is the bane of my existence.  I will wash it all day long, even hang it to dry, but I hate to fold it.  I am getting better about putting it away within a week instead of a month, but for some reason my dresser drawers always seem to be a mess.  

Like many women, I have found myself linking the cleanliness of my home, with Godliness.  I think we all have some area of our life where we tie a mundane, physical task to our spiritual walk. While I think that endeavoring to be a good homemaker is a wonderful pursuit with many spiritual implications, I believe that the atmosphere of our home is so much more important.  

Whether the laundry is in the basket or in the drawers, are people welcomed with smiles and warmth when they walk through the door?  Do our arms seek to circle and draw close those who are looking for comfort within our home, or do we push them away and hold them back because they might see dust on top of the dresser.  To me, it is so much more important the atmosphere and temperature of my home than whether my clothes are folded neatly in the drawer.  

Now, on the flip side, if my home is consistently a wreck I realize that there could be a problem.  But, I am not talking about that.  I am speaking more of how often we find ourselves obsessing about the physical aspects of day-to-day life, instead of marveling over the spiritual aspect of our walk with God. Are we letting our lights shine through the love we show when we invite people into our lives... as dusty as they might be?  :-)

I am reminded that the Proverbs 31 woman, “…opens her hands to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy.”  (Proverbs 31:20  ESV)  This would not be possible if her hands were always folding, always dusting, always cleaning.  No, she would need to set down her cleaning rag for this part, and open her door.

I promise that if I am ever invited into your home, I will not go looking in your dresser drawers to see if they are messy.  I will not swipe my finger along your countertop to see if it is dusty. Instead, I would rather have a wonderful conversation where hearts are shared and hands extended.  A good cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate cake, would simply top off the wonderful.