I’m deliberately finding joy for forty days. To start from day one click here.
I dust, straighten, vacuum like a mad woman. We have guests coming this week and I’ve got a house to clean.
I stop, review my work, think it might actually be coming together…and then I think about it—the closet.
Yep, that’s it over there on the right. I can’t believe I’m posting a picture of it on the web because, y’all, in real life nobody opens that door.
And if they do, they might not ever come back out. I’m just saying.
I hope you have one of these in your house. If you don’t you must promise now not to judge—yes, you with the cute baskets and matching labels.
I worked my little tail off cleaning the house today and yet it still didn’t feel like enough.
It might appear that way on the surface but in my heart of hearts I knew what was still behind closed doors.
My husband came home to me anxiously scrubbing while I muttered incoherent sentences comparing myself to more domestically-inclined women.
He pulled me close, kissed the top of my head, and said, “Don’t worry.”
And all at once it wasn’t just closets we were talking about.
It was my messy, crazy, shut-the-door life.
Because I clean my heart a lot like I clean my house. I scrub and scrub until the outside is okay. After all, someone is sure to be looking soon.
But deep inside I know there are still those closets…the thoughts I should stop thinking, the quirks I wish I didn’t have, the junk I need to haul to the curb for good.
And even when I’m doing okay my heart can’t rest because it’s never good enough.
Then my Heavenly Father pulls my heart close, gets inside my head, and whispers, “Don’t worry.”
Love covers all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12 NIV
It’s not that the closets in our lives don’t matter. It’s just that other things matter more—like relationships, growth, becoming.
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NIV
In other words, there will always be more closets to clean—in our houses and our hearts.
And this is where the joy comes…
Grace is enough.
The One who sees behind all those doors truly, deeply loves us anyway.
(hopefully our house guests will too!)
So, girls, confession time…anyone else got a closet like mine?
About Holley
Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author and Life Coach
I like humans, words, and good coffee. And I’d love to help you beat what’s holding you back, become all you’re created to be, and kick butt for the greater good.
Cheering you on,
