Vacuuming

When vacuuming the carpet became a power struggle…

Does anyone else out there remember the Electrolux vacuum of the 70s? You know, the one that you had to wrestle with to change the attachments and drag it around the room. My mom had one of those and she taught us how to use it. I hated that vacuum!

(Mom: If you are reading this, let me go ahead and say I’m sorry.)

Of course, what kid does like using the vacuum? Or maybe it’s just me. I still hate to vacuum.

Some of my closest friends, the ones who really know me know the story I’m about to tell. For those of you who don’t know me… unfortunately this will reveal an incredibly embarrassing, but incredibly enlightening look at the inner me.

In my tween and teen years I could be pretty stubborn. I might ultimately give in to what I was asked to do, but often it was with extreme reluctance. On days that my mom was going to be gone or at work, she would leave us a to-do list. Generally this list included some basic housework and maybe prepping for supper. It almost always included vacuuming the living room. Now, not only did I hate that Electrolux vacuum, I also hated chores in general. That stubborn inner me didn’t like being told what to do.

So, what did I do? [insert a look of embarrassment] I didn’t vacuum. I pretended to vacuum. You might be wondering how that is possible. Well let me tell you. For those of you that remember what the Electrolux attachment looked like, you know that there was a long handle on the end of the vacuum head. I would take that attachment and brush the living room carpet in a pattern so that it looked like I had vacuumed.

Now, in my mind, I was really proving a point. My mom just thought she was making me vacuum, right? I was really showing her.

Here’s the problem… it never crossed my mind that I was doing all the same work making those brush strokes in the carpet! I could have just as easily actually vacuumed the carpet. In fact, I probably spent more time trying to make it look like I had vacuumed than it actually would have taken.

The point… recently I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about what God sees when He looks at me. The truth is, He sees everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. There are things in our lives that we can keep hidden from our friends, our parents, and others around us, but God sees it all.

Despite our flaws, our stubbornness, our inner ugliness, He loves us. God loves us so much that He sent his son to die for us.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

The last time I remember painting those brush strokes in the carpet, I remember that my mom came home and bragged about how nice and clean the house looked. Wow. The weight of guilt was crushing. I didn’t deserve her praise.

Today I am reminded and I am thankful for God’s incredible love. I didn’t earn it. I don’t deserve it. He gave it anyway.