Thursday, April 7, 2011

Blind-Sided!

John 9:25 - One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!

I love a clean house, but I can't say I love to clean. When I was working outside the home, it was all I could do to maintain a semblance of order that I could tolerate and learned to turn a blind eye to chores for which I simply didn't have time. Nowadays, the bathrooms are spruced daily and scrubbed once a week, the dusting and vacuuming, sweeping and polishing, are executed as needed, and the laundry and dishes never pile up. Yes, I have come a long way in maintaining a neat, clean, organized home for Danny and the boys, at least on the surface. It wasn't until the announcement by Anna of AskAnna (see my extended profile for a link to her blog) about an upcoming spring cleaning project that I began to seriously consider our home's need for a major overhaul.

Anna's blog is dedicated to the arts of cleaning, organizing, and decorating; she invited all her followers to engage in a spring cleaning extravaganza she dubbed "Spring Fling". Starting April 2, she would post daily tasks to tackle in our homes, trusting that these would be made less intimidating because we were "all in this together", and we were encouraged to share before and after photos of our accomplishments. Even for someone like me who doesn't enjoy cleaning, I have to admit I was pumped and eager to truly give our house the facelift it deserved. I could hardly wait for Anna' first instructions so I could launch full throttle on this new adventure.

Blind-sided! Yes, indeed, my friends, Anna's first project for us was cleaning our blinds. I cringed inwardly, embarrassed by the fact that I had neglected mine for a shamefully long time and daunted by the prospect of restoring to dignity the fourteen blinds in our home. That's right - fourteen! I immediately knew this would not be a one-day undertaking and would set me behind in the Spring Fling agenda, but I was committed to follow through with each assignment no matter how long it took.

For sanity's sake, I decided to break this odious task down to two blinds per day; this has worked well so far as I, at this point, only have four blinds to go. It is painstaking to wash, wipe, and dry each slat on each blind, but I keep reminding myself that I only have myself to blame for the state they are in. Before Spring Fling, I was like a horse with blinders, recognizing obvious dirt in the straight-ahead path but unable to see the peripheral dust and grime hindering the health of my home. The blinders are off; my sight is restored.

In last Sunday's service, our pastor's sermon focused on Jesus' healing of the man blind from birth. He challenged us to think beyond physical blindness, to consider those areas in our lives that are blinding us, hindering us from walking fully in the abundant life of Jesus' promise. Is there someone we refuse to forgive? Are we nursing an unfounded prejudice? Are we weak in our prayer life? Do we see a need in another, yet choose not to help? Like it or not, we all have blind spots in our lives that, if ignored like my window blinds, will only grow darker and more insidious as time goes by. As Lent marches toward Easter, I pray that each of you will recognize your blind spot and ask for God's healing grace to remove that stumbling block. May we all, like the man born blind, be able to joyfully shout, "I was blind, but now I see!"

3 comments:

  1. This is great! I only have three sets of blinds & you have motivated me to get to those. You would think I would already be on the task. LOL Great blog.

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  2. I'm so glad you are joining me for spring cleaning! This is a great post. :)

    Anna
    www.askannamoseley.com

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  3. Anna, I'm behind, but I'm making progress - love your inspiration! Mimi, thanks so much for the compliment! :)

    ReplyDelete

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