During the long, gray days of winter, my inspirations to dust are erratic at best. I do laundry and clean the bathrooms on a regular basis but dusting and proclaiming to Donn that the floors need to be cleaned is based more on whether or not dust or dirt gets my attention.

Perhaps I have become more like one of our daughters who declares that she only dusts if it “gets in her way!” When I asked what that meant, she said, “I only dust the television screen if the dust gets in the way of seeing the programs!”

However, on a sunny day when bright sunlight streams through the windows, everything changes. I’m horrified and embarrassed by the thick coating of dust I see on the glass shelves of our entertainment center or on the top shelf of our computer desk which is just about at my eye level. Usually I make a beeline for the closet to grab my dust cloth or some paper towels and window cleaner.

Years ago, apparently how well I cleaned was also affected by whether we were going to have visitors. One day when five-year-old Angi was observing my cleaning frenzy, she asked me, “Are Grandma and Grandpa coming?”

All of this causes me to wonder how this compares with our spiritual house cleaning. Psalm 119:105 says, Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, but what about on dark, dreary days when our devotional times don’t shed much light? Or the times when we’ve become much too busy to sense God’s presence in such a way that it brings conviction to our critical thoughts?

Maybe at those times we need to ask God to shine the light of His Word into the dark corners of our hearts and woo us back into such a deep place of intimacy that all that is unholy would be revealed.

Father, forgive us when we neglect the interactions that keep us fellowshipping with you “in the beauty of holiness.” May we see you as Isaiah did in the year that King Uzziah (Isaiah 6) died so that we can see our uncleanness and allow ourselves to be cleansed. Amen.