Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean

For as long as I can remember I've always been a clean freak. There's a big part of me that likes to scan a room and see things neat and orderly, "a place for everything and everything in its place".

This afternoon I had an overwhelming urge to clean. I emptied the refrigerator of old leftovers, scrubbing each shelf as I went. Then I loaded the dishwasher up, wiped down the outside of the trash can, took four bags of trash to the dumpster, cleaned the sliding glass doors, started a couple of loads of laundry, vacuumed each room, and then ended with wet dusting everything in sight. Tonight I plan on sweeping the hardwood floors and deep cleaning the bathroom.

As I happily went along doing all of these things I remembered a scene from a movie that admittedly I've never sat and watched from beginning to end. It's from Bruce Almighty, and it's the part in the movie where Bruce has made a mess of everything and the whole town starts to riot. He screams out "GGGOOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!" And suddenly he's standing in a big white room. Quiet surrounds him. He looks around frantically and then hears the faint squeak of a mop bucket being rolled along. God appears and Bruce says, "They're all out of control. I don't know what to do." God replies, "You mind giving me a hand with this floor first?" The part of this scene that struck me today was what happens next: Bruce and God are standing side by side in silence - mopping. Then God says the words that I think will never leave me: "There we go. Wonderful thing. No matter how filthy something gets, you can always clean it right up."

Later in the movie God tells Bruce, "Everybody wants a miracle, Bruce. Want me to do everything for 'em. But what they don't understand is, they're the one's holding the power." So maybe Hollywood didn't exactly nail this one, but I think there is some truth to it. We don't like what's going on in our life, but we do nothing to change it. I will pray and pray and pray for God to do something, and a lot of times it's supposed to be Him that moves. But what about those times where He's waiting for me to take a step? To make a move?

Sometimes we have to clean up our own mess. Sometimes we just need to be willing to grab the mop. And then there are those other wonderful times when you're standing next to God side by side - mopping.

"Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute, Mr. Clean will clean your whole house and everything that's in it. Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean."