Cleanliness is next to Godliness; Really?

Ok, I admit it, I live my life at times by what I 'feel" like doing or "don't feel" like doing. Its that three year old in me that says, "I don't wanna!" For instance, I still don't want to make the bed, so I don't. I simply pull the cover we use to keep dog hair off the bed spread and there you go, it looks made! Or how about the laundry. Now honestly. who likes to do laundry or dishes when you could be walking the dog, writing, knitting; or maybe your favorite show is coming on. I know it has to be done, and it gets done. Just not on a regular basis. Household chores are more of an "as need " basis. If it needs to be done I will do it. Or my husband will do it. Otherwise it can wait. If I don't need any clean laundry yet, why do a load when I can be outside with the dog or working on a craft? Really. I work all day, do I really have to come home and clean the house as well? Do it on the weekend you say? I don't think so. That's my time to relax and go have fun, or hang with my husband and watch a good movie. Take the dog on a hike. Why on earth would I waste a beautiful sunny day scrubbing a toilet? Or washing down windows or do laundry if I don't need to? And if its a rainy chilly day, well heck, that is the perfect kind of day to wrap up in a blanket on the couch and read a good book. Its all about priorities. Life has priorities. What is important to you. Now I am not saying people who have spotless homes are strange or that something is wrong with them; I admire that they have the energy to keep their homes clean and tidy. All I am saying is, it should also be ok if I don't keep my house spotless and tidy at all times. And yet, how many of us panic when someone shows up unannounced, and of course it is always on the day the house looks its worse! So I have finally found a solution to this problem. Don't  have friends. Just kidding. The solution for me is simply accepting this is who I am and there is no sense in trying to be someone I am not. I am not a good housekeeper. I am a good friend, wife, volunteer, employee. These are what I am good at. My friends who know me love me even when there is dust on the shelves and I haven't vacuumed in a while. We just sit and visit and have a good time. Isn't that what life is really about? Having a good time. Picking our priorities? Isn't it time to relax and leave the stress of impressing others to the younger generation? I think so. I am tired of comparing my house with the neighbors. My clothes with my co-workers clothes. etc. It just gets to a point of life being too short, and it gets shorter a lot quicker these days than it used to! So little by little I am letting go of things that aren't all that important anymore. And the big one today that I am practicing is, not worrying about what other people think. I hear it said over and over. "what other people think of me is none of my business." My business is doing the next right thing and having fun. It is not worrying about what others think.

Does anyone remember as a kid not being able to wait to grow up so you wouldn't have to do these things anymore? When you would be able to do as you pleased and have no one tell you to go clean your room, pick up your clothes or put away your shoes. I couldn't wait to be a grown up and do as I wanted. Not having anyone telling me I had to do something "or else". No one told me this wasn't how it worked. That if I wanted to have a home and food on the table I would have a boss telling me what to do on the job; or that if I wanted to stay out of jail there was certain laws I would have to obey. We will always have someone to answer to in one form or another as long as we are breathing. Maybe more so with some of us than others depending on circumstances. But most of that is just plain maturity and being responsible.

The issue I am addressing here is, what is really important? A perfect home or great times with friends? What brings me closer to God, cleaning my house and resenting the time it is taking, or leaving it and doing something creative that brings my thoughts to a spiritual level? Creativity and time spent with friends always brings me closer to my God. I see the Spirits love in a friends smile; I hear God's voice of encouragement in a book I am reading at the time. I sense the Spirits energy as I sit and create. So excuse me if I don't buy the "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" thing. I wonder where it came from. Probably someone trying to get their kid to clean their room.

Most of us live our lives by what people in our society deems acceptable or religious. Or what we think others deem acceptable. We worry what others will think of us if they saw how we lived when no one is looking. The truth is; we all have days, maybe weeks, when we are just too darn busy to worry about making the damn bed or picking up the clutter around the house. What I want to know is, who makes up these rules? Who determines whether or not I am a good person because I did the dishes before leaving for work? Who decides I am a bad person because I left the bed un-made when I drove off to work? What is important here? Making a bed or giving your pet a walk or some play time before leaving for work?

Lets face it. We all have days where our homes look a bit cluttered. When clothes are on the bedroom floor, or books and papers are lying around on the tables or there is dust on the coffee table. (We have crafts lying around undone that we are "going to get to"). Then we hurry and run around frantically when company is on their way. My husband and I joke that it is a good thing we have friends come over for game night once a month because it gives us the push to give the house a real thorough cleaning.

I wish I could be a better homemaker. I wish I cared enough to have a clutter free home. It would be nice to come home and not see stuff lying around. But the truth is, I don't wanna do it. Either I am too tired when I get home from work or have other projects that are more important to do, crafts to make for people, take my dog for a nice walk after being cooped up all day. Maybe go meet with friends after work. I just don't have the energy to keep a spotless house and work full time and do the things I enjoy. So something has to give. We need my income if we want to have the house and eat. So not working isn't an option. I enjoy my social life and being with friends, so giving that time up isn't an option. So I guess the only other option is to accept this is who I am today and how I choose to live my life. It isn't like I have rats running around or cobwebs hanging off the ceilings. Oh yeah, I did find a couple this weekend in a dark corner of the hall way; but its gone. I don't want to give spiders the idea they are welcome here.

Every day I tell myself I am going to set up a schedule. Each day I will take 10 minutes to do a room; dust, iron, clean the bathrooms etc. If there was a schedule then maybe it wouldn't be so hard to have a clean home and still enjoy life after work. But it hasn't happened yet. Not sure it ever will. So I will just continue to do what I want to do and not do what I don't want to do. I will be that grown-up I couldn't wait to be that no one could boss her around anymore. I will do the things that bring me joy and continue to keep friends who accept me just the way I am, dust, clutter and all. So if you are in the neighborhood and not afraid of a little mess, then please, by all means, drop on in. You are always welcome in our home. But if a little dust or clutter bothers you, you might want to keep on walking or driving by. We don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, including ourselves!  I hate that embarrassing feeling after someone has dropped by to say hello or give me something and it is the very day I had pulled laundry out of the dryer and thrown it on the sofa and got busy doing something else. The visitor doesn't know I just pulled it out, they just see the pile of clothes on the sofa. People don't understand people like me. I start one project and my thoughts go to another project so I drop what I am doing to go take care of what just popped into my head and on and on it goes. Like a hamster in a hamster wheel. I am always going from one thing to another and eventually I complete nothing and create more clutter to pick up later. It is like being a hamster on a wheel sometimes. I just go around and around and get nowhere where house work is concerned.

I will say this though; I did come home and iron and put a couple things away today. Walked the dog a little further than usual and now wrote this silly little post. And I have to admit it felt pretty darn good to have accomplished something. I have set a goal. I know, here she goes again with goals. I am going to set a few minutes each evening after work to do one small chore. But not if it interferes with my after work walks with Maddie, my precious dog. I will see if I can accomplish the main goal of getting the house completely organized and picked up and then keeping it that way. Perhaps setting a schedule would work after all. but first, lets see how well this idea works. But! I am still not going to make the bed before I leave for work. I just refuse to do something I am going to have to undo later. I don't know why this is such a big deal to me but it is. Actually, it is what started this post. Listening to a women talk about how bad she felt because she didn't have time this morning to make the bed before she left for work and it was driving her crazy. I didn't get it. Who was going to tell on her? Who was going to even know if she hadn't said anything? I just didn't get the big deal. Others did; but then others like me thought, who cares? Get back to work.

So, now I have a few minutes left before it is time to go to bed. I could clean up a little more. NOT! I would rather go lie down and catch up on the this month's book club book.