Cleaning

I hate cleaning.

I will say it again, I hate cleaning!

But I do it anyway...some of the time.

I have done some much cleaning this week! The clothes that have been in boxes are finally in shelves, the spare room is no longer the dumping ground of household clutter, and the study...well, that's next weeks project! And Saturday, the kitchen was tidied- the dishwasher emptied and stacked, I cooked almost everything I had intended to cook that week, and I even took the rubbish out. Ordinarily Tim stacks the dish washer and takes out the rubbish but he'd had a super full on week at College and so I thought I'd give him a break.

And I came home on Sunday- my full-on ministry day. Came home at 9pm, cooked tea and thought- the dishwasher needs emptying.

I think that's why I hate cleaning. It's such a constant task. You work hard, you get everything exactly how you want it- and then just by living a normal messy life you have to start over again. And the dishwasher you neatly stack...well the very act of stacking it means that it then has to be un-stacked.

Yet, as I began to unstack, I remembered my initial excitement when Mum (who was in Sydney before we moved up and checked out our place) told me that there was a dishwasher. When I realised what a blessing that would be. When I knew how much easier it would be to have people over. When I knew how much cleaner our house could be, if we didn't spend all that time doing dishes by hand. And I felt a bit silly. How easy to take things for granted. God had blessed us with this unexpected bonus- this tool for making the things I find so hard about being a wife that little bit easier...and I was complaining about unstacking.

I hate cleaning. But I'm getting better at doing it anyway.
love B