Is it really true…is cleanliness next to godliness? Well for some housekeepers it is! I tend to have a mixed view on this.
While I want a clean home, I don’t want it to feel untouchable. And I certainly don’t want it to become more important than the relationships that happen inside.
I really hate that when my children were younger, I oftentimes made them feel that the state of my home was more important than they were. Obviously I never truly felt that way but it was the message I sent more times than not.
Complaints were always coming out of my mouth about the messes they were creating. And it didn’t help that I would sometimes follow after them, like a human vacuum cleaner, sucking up the toys to dispense them where I wanted.
As they began to get older, I got less demanding about this. And eventually, as my oldest entered his teen years, I even managed to let go of the “ideal” way to keep a bedroom.
Since toys are no longer an issue and my teen’s bedrooms have been fully given over to them, I have less messes. But I’ve also loosened some of my expectations and I have stopped complaining (well, for the most part).
So yes, I do believe in a clean home. Not just for the sake of my own little world being made to feel right. But for sanitation reasons and the fact I’d love for someone to unexpectedly drop by and me not have to feel totally embarrassed over the state of my home.
At the same time, I don’t equate cleanliness with godliness. Because if I were to put it that high up on a pedestal, I would be the same mom who spent more of her day fussing about the home and less time loving on my family.