As I cleaned part of the bathroom for the thousandth time (I rarely do it all at once), I looked at the rest of the bathroom, knowing that it was coming due for needing cleaning--showing its yuck--and I felt momentarily overwhelmed. Vacuuming, laundry, taxes all still needed to be done. The yard will begin to need maintenance very soon. Pet things needed tending. It's endless. Even doing bits at a time. On a bad day, this could get very depressing. I remember thinking, I just wish this were like other things I
like to do--things that are done when they're done and you never have to do them again. Like a puzzle, logic problem, or sudoku. Even a video game. But no, that toilet is going to need to be scrubbed again in a few days, but I'll probably let it go a week or so. As I pondered my "plight," the Lord spoke to me. No, I didn't hear a voice, but like so many other times, a thought was planted.
What must it be like for the Lord to forgive us? Over and over we do the same thing--sometimes not even asking for forgiveness or being oblivious. Yet--and this is the really cool part--
He doesn't get weary! He knows our frame, and He pities us as His children. And there's another cool part to this. God
is done. In our temporal prison, we don't see the end, but He does. He's done! Christ said on the Cross, "It is finished!" And what He accomplished there was so much more important than any of the most-fulfilling tasks I have been able to say that about.
This led me to yet another thought. How awesome is it that He lets us have any idea of what it's like to be Him? To be able to experience love, fulfillment, completion, beauty--even music and art. He Who is the Great Musician and Who gave us these abilities created us in His image to be able to experience these albeit temporary, imperfect pleasures. What a foretaste of Glory Divine! In the most mundane things, we can see things of God. My yucky bathroom: a reminder of our fallen world--a sinful state of never being perfect. Yet God is done. He has already given John a vision of the New Heavens and New Earth--restored and perfect!
As I continued to clean my bathroom, I thanked God for His gift that moment in sharing these thoughts with me--and then for his tireless patience with me. I remembered that whatever I do, I should do it heartily as unto Him--even if it's cleaning a bathroom. I thought that cleaning the bathroom gave a comfortable place to my family whom I love--in a way, I was loving and blessing them by cleaning the bathroom (although I'm sure they'll probably never see it that way--but that's
ok). And I was most happy with the thought that I can look forward to a time of rest--a completion--and the continual decay will be forever put away, leaving only the blessings and wonderful things to enjoy forever. Unfathomable. But ... He has blessed us with an inkling, and I'm grateful for it.
