Let the SON Shine In

I love my house. I love keeping it clean. It is such a gift from God. We live in a 100 year old farm house that my great great grandfather built. I never could have imagined living here, and now that we do, I can't imagine living anywhere else. It's just perfect for us.
A few months ago I was cleaning in the kitchen. I had done all of the dishes. I had scrubbed all of the counter tops. I had vacuumed and washed the hardwood floor. It looked IMMACULATELY clean. I  stepped back to admire my hard work. It looked pretty good to me. That was until...I OPENED THE CURTAINS! It was an unusually nice day out, and I decided to open the curtains and let some sunshine in.  In that instant, my kitchen which looked so perfectly clean before, now looked....well, not so clean. As I opened the curtains to let the sunshine in, it revealed streaks on the floor, crumbs under the cabinets that I missed, and spots on the counter top that weren't quite cleaned off all the way. My first instinct was just to close the curtains and say "It looked good before." But, I didn't. I got back out my cleaning supplies and took care of the areas that the sunshine had revealed.
As I was cleaning, I was thinking. This is how my life becomes when the SON shines on it. I may think that I've got everything all under control. I'm reading my bible....almost every day. I'm going to church every Sunday. I'm teaching my kids about God. I'm sponsoring needy children in other countries. I'm giving money to the church. My life, to most people, probably looks like I'm a "good person." However, when the SON shines on my life, I realize the areas that I need to work on. I lose my temper too quickly with my kids and my husband. I am too quick to judge others. The list can go on and on some days.

But just as my kitchen needed that sunshine to reveal to me the spots that needed deeper cleaning, so do I need the SON to shine on my life and show me where I need to make changes to walk more closely with him. I want to be the kind of mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter and Christ follower that He wants me to be. And I can't do that if I'm not letting the SON shine into my life to show me the way.

Lisa Powell