Everyday I do all this cleaning. And it really doesn't matter how spic-n-span I get things the day before, a new day comes and it's not long at all before we've got a big ole' mess on our hands. That's just the way life works. And if I wanted to get all scientificky and smart on you, I'd just refer to this never-ending disarray as the law of entropy. Second law of thermodynamics, I believe. Things always tend toward disorder. Always. You've got to expend some energy if you want to make them right again.
And quite honestly, I get kinda tired of it. It wears me out. But, I've been learning something pretty cool. And since I'm a God-believer and a Jesus-follower, I'm always looking for the ways He shows up in my everyday mundane. And He does show up. Even when I'm cleaning the house. Because every time I pick up a toy, or scrub a toilet, or dust an end table, I'm preaching the gospel to myself. I'm telling a story. A story of something to come. Something that's not all the way here, but that's on its way.
I'm telling the story of how one day, this whole wide chaotic, messy, broken world will be made right again. Will one day be fixed. One day be returned to perfect and complete peace. One day be made whole. Because that's what Jesus came to do and that's what He promises will happen at the end of the here and now. And that's a beautiful story. A story worth telling myself when I sort laundry.
So, I wash the sink out and remember that He'll wash this whole place clean. And I glue a broken toy and remember that He'll mend all that's been fragmented. I put the puzzles together for the umpteenth time and remember that one day all the pieces will find their place. In Him.
That's what redemption is about. Him making everything right again. And I long for that. With the deepest ache I long for it. And I wait for it, knowing full well that one day it's coming. All things becoming new.
And that makes cleaning not so hard. It actually kinda transforms it into a way to worship. To worship the God who entered into the wreck in order to restore Shalom. Perfect peace. Confounding completeness. Utter fullness. Absolute soundness. Total tranquility. Deepest rest.
So, I pick up around here. And I live out the sweetest story I know.
And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new. Write this down. For these words are trustworthy and true" (Rev. 21:5).
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