Cleaning Exercise

Cleanliness is next to holiness. This is a famous dictum. As much as we desire to live a holy, clean, and pure life within, we also must live a clean life without. Once in a while, I got time to devote to house cleaning according to my taste though cleaning has been regularly done by my brothers and sisters who live with me.  It was last Saturday, I felt the urgent need to rearrange many things in the house. Therefore as a family, we all worked together to do the cleaning work that cannot be done on a daily basis as it involves sorting out old and unnecessary stuff, throw them off, and neatly rearranging the thing still needed. It was such an exercise that consumed time and energy, yet after the cleaning, the house looks much better and breathier. Such an exercise was truly worth the labor. 

Last night, there was heavy rain for quite some time. The drainage pipe in my balcony got blocked and water clogged to the extent that it flowed into our bedroom unnoticed while we all were lying down to sleep. Only when my daughter woke up to use the restroom she almost slipped on the floor partially flooded by the rainwater then we noticed what intruded in. Then, we woke up to discover our room getting flooded. We all then coordinated to drain off the flooded room, removed the bag packs stored under the bed. It was a surprise mid-night cleaning raid. The cleaning that was started did not touch our bedroom, therefore, we continued the cleaning exercise of our bedroom as well. 

Today, after lunch, I could see some areas to be cleaned further. So I ended up cleaning and rearranging our toilet and rearranged stuff in the room. The cleaning that began continued until we could work through the whole room and then the house itself. What an impromptu cleaning exercise! 

Such a cleaning exercise is frequently needed. It reminds me of my need for dealing with my heart and conscience, that needs to be cleaned now and then. What a grace to be reminded of cleaning exercise within and without!