Now, let me stress that this is what my kitchen table looks like three days after effectively having a dinner party at my house for which the table has to be beautiful, clear, and clean - so, really, this is pretty close to my best foot forward. Usually, there is a much larger stack of mail, several more grocery bags and empty drink cans, no beautiful candle centerpiece, and about half the time, a laundry basket - sometimes clean, sometimes dirty.
It is my own fault that it gets that way. Sure, I have a family and a busy schedule to keep, but it is out of my own laziness that mail isn't gone through as soon as it comes in the door, that grocery bags and empty drink cans are not put into the trash or recycling right away, and that the laundry is not folded as it comes out of the dryer. None of these things takes more than four minutes to do, if done at their proper time. Most take far less.
Isn't it easy to neglect our spiritual houses in the same way because we are so accustomed to the idea of being "self-reliant" that we feel that we do not need God?
Are you like me? Do you have the unfortunate tendency to only clean up when company is coming? How about your spiritual house? Is it difficult to look after the care and maintenance of your spiritual house when the liturgical calendar isn't deliberately directing your eye toward the need to prepare for the day Christ returns?
"Incremental Progress Daily" is a mantra my husband always repeats to me about how things go when you're working on building a video game, a project that he says takes twenty man-years to complete. That's exactly the strategy that ought to employed when looking after the condition of a home, spiritual or otherwise. A little every day will eventually get you to a place where your house is a nice place to be.
What is something small that you can do to work on the condition of your spiritual house? Is a chapter from the bible every day realistic for you? How about a morning offering? How about incorporating prayer into your dish washing or laundry folding routine?
And speaking of which... I've been noveling for a whole month, and Mt. Washmore is calling my name.
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