I've Got Oxen in my House

Somedays I feel as if I live in a barn. There is laundry piled high only a few feet from where I am currently sitting. The kitchen floor is oddly sticky, along with the bathroom sink. Nearly every surface is covered in dust. The inside of the refrigerator looks anything but sanitary. It's fall, so that means every window sill and almost all of the upstairs of this refurbished old farm house is covered in dead and dying flies.

Even when I do manage to clean one room - I mean really clean, I'm usually greeted in another room by something like this:

It can be rather demoralizing. I know that in light of eternity whether or not my house is clean  does not really matter; but in the moment, when there's more gravel and dirt on the kitchen floor than in the driveway, when I can't see out the living room windows because of hand and lip prints, and when there are toys EVERYWHERE my mood and sanity are seriously affected.

One day I stumbled across this passage:

"Where no oxen are, the trough is clean;

but much increase comes by the strength of the ox."

Proverbs 14:4

When I first came across this (and the coordinating footnote in my Bible), I instantly applied it to my cleaning situation. If I didn't have any oxen children in my house, my trough house would likely be a bit tidier. But what would my life be without my children?

The footnote in my Bible implied that the oxen in this verse represent power, and as much as I hate cliches, there's one that goes "The hand the rocks the cradle, rocks the world." My "power" to change to this world, to affect the generations, is in my children. Can I raise Godly, moral, responsible citizens who will adhere to Biblical truth, go against the flow, vote, etc? In doing that, my house will likely not make it into Better Homes and Gardens, but the "increase" that will come to me, my children, and society will be worth the cobwebs and stains.

So I'll plunge my hands into the soapy dishwater and attack the sticky pots and pans while I praise my oxen children, discipline them, remind them, sing to them, and pray with and for them. It's never ending, but there is no "arriving" here one earth - no final cleaning, no "there, it's done," no preventing mistakes, no shiny trough. It's in the journey.

Thanking God with Ann and all the others over at Holy Experience for:

#11. a husband that enjoys vacuuming

#12. a husband that took it upon himself to clean a bathroom on Saturday while I was at a bridal shower

#13. main floor laundry - after living with public laundry and basement laundry for 6 years, having it on the main floor as revolutionized my life

#14. a quiet, rainy weekend

#15. impromptu visits with family from both sides over the weekend

#16. a dishwasher that keeps the pile of dirty dishes in the sink to an acceptable minimum

#17. toddlers that think it is novel to clean up their toys at the end of the day - I'll just enjoy it while it lasts!

#18. all of our clothes - the ones tucked in drawers and hanging in closets and the ones in color coordinated piles in the laundry room

#19. another quiet rainy day to catch up

#20. kids quietly playing well together this morning