The Spiritual Act of...

Cleaning. That's right. Cleaning. One of the things I enjoy most on my day off, which is usually Friday, is to spend time cleaning the house. Now, let me just say this right away - I don't clean because my wife doesn't do a good job. She does a phenomenal job keeping the house up, and managing the house. She is great! I clean because it's a spiritual exercise for me. Let me explain.

I work with teenagers for a living. For those who don’t know, I’m a youth pastor, and I love it. I love teaching teenagers about Jesus, and walking with them as they explore and experience His love. It’s the best job in the world – in my opinion. But often it takes a while to see change in teenager’s lives. I can go through a whole week or a couple of weeks and not see changes in teen’s lives. I look back and ask; “what have I done with my time? Did I accomplish anything? Did anything get done?” As an individual, I like to accomplish things. I like to see things get done. I like to look back and see some change, for the better.

So that is why I clean. When I get to the end of the week I often ask, what did I accomplish? Sometimes a lot gets accomplished. Sometimes it doesn’t look like anything was accomplished. So that’s why I clean. I clean the house because I can look back and see the fruit of my labor. I can see something get accomplished. And it’s through this little exercise of cleaning that I get energized and motivated to face another week doing the thing that I love – hanging out with teenagers and trying to figure out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in 2007.

So... high ho... high ho... It's off to clean I go.

But don't ask me to clean your house!