JOYFUL WORDS
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Writing
  • Hospitality
  • About Sheri

Scrubbin' the Porch

8/20/2012

2 Comments

 
 If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.  1 John 1:9
 
Last week my oldest son helped me power wash the front porch...a job the kids don’t usually line up and beg to help with!   The combination of dust from our gravel road and lots of flies attracted by the cattle make it a necessary but undesirable task.  As I was swirling my scrub brush along the siding and porch rail I figured I should pray for people who were knee-deep in things a whole lot worse than fly specks and road dust!  Not long into the scrubbin' and prayin' I started thinking about how small dust and fly specks really are when you isolate just one.  The problem is when they glob together…that’s when true scrubbing is required!   Our porch is pretty good sized, so I had lots of time to think about how something that started out so tiny could cause such a big mess.
 
About a third of the way through the project,  I looked down at my fingers that were getting shriveled from the scrub water and that’s when it hit me…the mess on my porch was kinda like sin. I realized through this humbling episode of porch scrubbing that I’m nothing but a big ‘ole sinner!  Each little sin like  impatience  or judgmental thinking  that plagues my days is like a speck on my porch…one at a time they may not seem like much, but when several glob together, I wind up with a mess that requires scrubbing!  We only scrub our front porch once a year, not because it isn’t needed more often, but because it’s the minimum requirement…something we do only when we simply can’t stand it any longer.  I began to wonder if there was any correlation between the frequency with which I scrubbed my porch and how often I sought a good “soul scrubbing” from my Heavenly Father.

I sweep the porch often, and I began to realize that was much like my nightly examination of conscience.  I quickly ask God for forgiveness before I fall asleep but that’s like a quick sweep…it’s not a true scrubbing.  I came to the conclusion that sunny afternoon last week that I needed to make some adjustments in my “soul scrubbing” schedule.  We are so lucky to be the children of such a loving and mighty God.  He knows keeping us from sin completely is as impossible as keeping the dust and fly specks off my porch, but that’s what keeps us running to His loving arms as we beg forgiveness for the mess that all our tiny little sins make when they glob together. His forgiveness is there for us. All He asks is that we come to Him with a spirit of repentance and a desire to change.  If I approach Him with a TRUE repentant heart and work  harder at avoiding those small sins maybe He wouldn’t have to scrub so hard when I got there!
 
My ambition was to have a clean porch; the outcome was a reminder of God’s great love and my ever-growing need for Him.  Our God is the God of surprises and the God of the ordinary. I am continually amazed at the ways He sends me His messages when I approach things with prayer…He can even turn scrubbin' the porch into a lesson!
 
A seed to plant: Sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper.  Make a list of all the tiny little sins that plague your day and "glob up" to make a mess on your soul.  Lift that list up to the Father with a repentant heart asking for His loving forgiveness.  Don’t forget to ask for His guidance on how to “keep your porch clean.”

Blessings on your day!



 
 
2 Comments
Dana
8/20/2012 04:09:28 am

I've been thinking how much I need to get to confession and this post just drove it home even more! Thanks Sheri!!!!

Reply
Diane
8/21/2012 12:24:12 am

Thanks, I needed that!!!! Wish I would of read it yesterday, like I should of ! Thanks Sheri!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Joyful Words magnet picture

    ​Click on the items below to expand the options available to you to explore the Joyful Words blog.

    Categories

    All
    1 Corinthians
    1 John
    1 Thessalonians
    2 Corinthians
    Acts Of Love
    Advent
    Ageing
    All In
    Armor Of God
    Asking For Help
    Bad Habits
    Be
    Being Gracious
    Blessed Mother Teresa Of Calcutta
    Blessings
    Carry Our Cross
    Catholic Education
    Change
    Christmas
    Colossians
    Commitment
    Comparisons
    Contentment
    Crosses
    Crumbs
    Dad
    Daughters Of God
    Delight
    Desire
    Details
    Die To Self
    Discipleship
    Dissapointment
    Ecclesiastes
    Ephesians
    Evangelization
    Exodus
    Expectations
    Faith
    Falling Short
    Family
    Fathers Love
    Fear
    Flag
    Fresh Start
    Friendship
    Fr. Mike
    Galatians
    Generosity
    God In Everyday Things
    God In Scripture
    God's Enough
    God's Forgiveness
    Gods Gifts
    God's Guidance
    God's Love
    God's Plan
    Gods P Lan
    God's Restoration
    God's Timing
    Gods Timing
    Gods Ways
    Gods Will
    Grandma
    Grandpa
    Gratefulness
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Heart
    Hebrews
    He Chose Me
    Holiness
    Holy Week
    Hope
    Humble
    Isaiah
    James
    Jeremiah
    John
    Joshua
    Joy
    Kids
    Kindness
    Labor
    Laughter
    Lent
    Listening
    Little
    Love
    Lovelies
    Luke
    Mark
    Matthew
    Meekness
    Mom
    Mud
    Parenting
    Parentng
    Patience
    Peace
    People
    Perseverance
    Perspective
    Philippians
    Pioneers
    Pleasing God
    Poor
    Porch
    Positive
    Pray
    Prayer
    Priorities
    Promises
    Proverbs
    Psalm
    Romans
    Sacrifices
    Samuel
    Serving God
    Simple
    Sin
    Sinfulness
    Steve Ray
    St. Mary's 4th Of July
    Stress
    Surprises
    Trust
    Trust In God
    Truth
    Unravelled
    Waiting
    Weddings
    Word Of The Year
    Worry


    ​Archives

    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012


    Back to Home

    RSS Feed


      HOME                        BLOG                       SPEAKING                        WRITING                        HOSPITALITY                        MEET SHERI  

CONTACT: 989.640.6673
Picture
EMAIL

FACEBOOK

Twitter

Content is the intellectual property of Sheri Wohlfert 2017
Created by dhengesbach
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Writing
  • Hospitality
  • About Sheri