Clean Your Bathroom

Ever since I've lived on my own and been married, Saturdays have been my cleaning days. My cleaning days consist of changing my sheets, changing the bathroom towels and cleaning the bathroom counter top, doing the laundry, and cleaning up the kitchen if needed. I don't clean the toilets, dust, or vacuum every week, only when it really needs it or I feel the urge to do so. My cleaning doesn't take very long, maybe an hour at the most. Of course, the laundry takes longer, but you know what I mean. :)

Some Saturdays I just don't feel like cleaning and really have to make myself do it. That was the case two weeks ago. I just could not bring myself to clean our bathroom. The only thing I had to do was clean the counter top (which I know Ross appreciates...I don't think he'll ever get used to my hair laying all over the sink and floor). It would probably take all of five minutes to clean, but I just didn't want to do it and put it off all day long. That night I apologized to Ross for not cleaning and told him I'd do it the next day, but quickly retracted that statement once I realized that Ross was leaving the next day to go to St. Louis for the week to work. The dirty bathroom sink didn't really bother me that much and I could live with it for the week and clean it right before Ross got home the next Friday. He didn't seem to mind, so I decided to go with that plan and clean it Thursday night so Ross would come home to a nice, clean bathroom.

Sunday came and Ross left for St. Louis, planning to come home on Friday. I was very excited to get a text from him that Wednesday saying he had checked out of his hotel room and was coming home! His area in Springfield was getting pretty busy so they were sending him back home to take care of it. I was very excited that he was coming home early, but then remembered all the things I'd planned on doing while he was gone that I didn't get to, one of those being cleaning the bathroom. I felt bad that he was going to come home to a dirty bathroom, even dirtier than when he left because it had four more days of use and my hair floating around!

That night we were both in the bathroom and I apologized to him for not having the bathroom clean. I told him my plan of cleaning it Thursday night and had I known he was going to be home Wednesday night, I would have had it clean for him. Ross, being the gracious, easy-going man that he is, said it was okay, he didn't mind.

Now to the whole point of this post...just as soon as the apology was out of my mouth I compared the fact that I didn't know Ross was coming home that night to the fact that I have no clue when Jesus is coming back:  

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

(Matthew 24:36-44, NIV)

To me, "keep watch" and "you also must be ready" parts of this verse don't mean that we should live in an anxious state waiting for this great coming, but rather live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God and be aware of our surroundings, not letting any false teachings persuade us to believe otherwise. I think it's also a good reminder that we need to live out our Christian life all the time and not just when it's convenient for us. We need to "do unto others as we would have them do to us" even when we don't want to. When we're living and treating others as God would have us do, we're keeping watch and being ready. I felt so bad that I did not have the bathroom clean for Ross, but can't even begin to imagine how much worse it would be to not have "my bathroom" clean for Jesus.

What about you, is your bathroom clean?