Cleaning up and moving out...

What is it about leaving a house behind?  My dear husband used to vacuum the family car... not often, he really expected "someone" else to see the dirt and vacuum the car.  But there was a time when it was his highest priority- right before every trip.

Why?  We're about to pile four kids and their stuff, our stuff like books on tape, extra blankets or towels depending on the season and ... snacks. Lots of snacks.  I'll confess a family "secret" -  once on a long trip to Texas, my son grabbed the nuts, pretzels and Chex mix by the wrong end of the bag and upended it in that empty space between the two front  seats of an old mini van.  It was early in the trip and yes, we carefully ate it off the floor for the rest of the trip.  We still refer to that particular mix as "floor food".  So why vacuum a car at the beginning of a trip? You could save time and aggravation by just using a leaf blower in the car when you return. Especially mini-vans, open those doors and let it rip.

But... it is perfectly rational for me to make myself crazy leaving the house perfectly neat.  After all, it's so nice to come home to a clean house- like four kids and two cranky parents aren't going to dump everything in the middle of the first room and run for a bathroom the minute they get home?  Well, it feels rational.

And now I live alone. I can come home and leave everything in the car and run - to my choice of three bathrooms.  But still, before I leave I clean those bathrooms. I wash the sheets ( and yes, I'll sleep on the outside of them....In my current home, also known as a free place to stay in the Black Hills, I've had lots of company when I'm not here. )  But I also straighten books, mop floors, dust- like that's going to last.  At least I'm leaving it behind clean.

If we're passing through life on our way to the great road trip in the sky, how are we leaving behind our earthly homes?  I will say there isn't anything I'd be embarrassed for a child or even my grown children to find.  Do we think about  our lives leaving  behind the legacy of purity?  And while the obvious comes to mind, purity also means singleness of heart, pure as in untainted- comprised of a single type, pure gold, pure silver.  These are precious metals because they have had the impurities driven out of them.  James says we're not to be buffeted by the wind and tossed to and fro in our doctrines, in our beliefs, in the values that shape our actions.

This afternoon it was 50+ degrees with sunshine and no wind while I loaded the camper. Tonight, as I write, it's 30 degrees, with blowing snow and wind gusts to 50 MPH.  Change happens fast.

I want to be pure - focused on what He's doing in my world, ready to join Him.  Faithful, single minded, not burdened down by my own agenda. An agenda that takes so much time I can't really do another thing or listen for that still small voice.  The voice that often says lay them down and do the ONE thing I'm calling you to... be be faithful - to rest, abide, listen.   The voice that sometimes says, "Lay it all down. Let it go. Move on."

So I clean my earthly house - just in case.  I pack up and try to leave behind a legacy of hospitality and open hands.  I set my  course steady and let the tide come.  I'm trust I'm a long way from my heavenly home and  I don't know what to expect when I arrive there, but this one thing I long to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."