Cleanliness is next to Godliness

This old Hebrew proverb, and Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 have been on my mind quite a bit lately.  I have realized recently that I have kind of let the cleanliness of our home go to the wayside.  I went from being OCD about how clean our house was, spending all of my free time cleaning, to just ignoring the clutter and mess that were building up around me.  I was frustrated because I could feel it becoming more and more difficult to feel the Spirit strongly in our home, and I couldn't figure out why.  We were still striving as hard as we ever had to keep the commandments and to draw closer to God.

Then it hit me: there was so much clutter in our house that I was having a hard time focusing on matters of the Spirit instead of the mess around me.

It wasn't healthy to allow my house to go into complete disarray, but I also know that my compulsive cleaning prior was not healthy either.  So, I started a new goal.  Each week, Neal and I were to come up with a specific part of cleaning to work on.  My first one was putting the dish I was using in the dishwasher right after I used them rather than letting them pile up in the sink.  If the dishwasher had clean dishes in it, then I would empty it so I could put my dirty dish in the dishwasher.  Neal worked on putting away his clothes after he wore them (whether that meant in the laundry basket or in a drawer) instead of piling them on the end of the bed.

These things to work on have made us think more about how to clean as we go, and so even though they haven't been on our "list of things to work on," things like folding laundry right away, and hanging coats up, and wiping up kitchen messes have started happening, too.  Our room is more clean than I've seen it in a couple months.  Hahaha.

When I woke up this morning, I had a different feeling than I usually do when I woke up.  I didn't feel like I needed to jump up and spend the time before I went to work cleaning our house.

This was new for me.  I usually wake up, look at the clutter around me, and feel overwhelmed by it all.  Then I sit on the couch and watch TV until I have to go to work.  This morning I looked at our room and felt GOOD.  I came out to the kitchen and didn't see a pile of dishes in the sink that needed to be washed.  All I really NEEDED to get done was fold the last load of laundry that we did yesterday.

The best part is slowly, and surely, the presence of the Spirit is coming back more strongly in our home.  Our house isn't perfectly clean, and I don't expect it to be (unlike when I compulsively cleaned).  I know that we are doing our best, and progressing each day.

It feels fabulous!