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Tuesday, June 24
closet sanctification
Well, I did it again: I chewed through another two rooms in the Great Adkins Summer House Clean Out, washing it down with side of nasty hall closet. I'm three-eighths of the way done in my quest for a de-junked house by August 18th, better known as Oh Crap, My Beautiful Summer is Over and I Have to Start Homeschooling Again Day. I know that tomorrow I'll realize that the rooms I cleaned today didn't take that long, and are far from the hideous beasts known as The Kitchen Cabinets and The Garage, but tonight, I feel pretty smug.
I often turn on HGTV during my cleaning sprees, mainly because I need pretty houses to keep me motivated, but also because I enjoy thinking bad thoughts about homeowners who say things like "We're getting ready to have our first baby, and our 6700- square-foot home on the ocean will feel a bit cramped" or "I don't know how I ever really, truly felt alive without granite countertops." Sometimes I even fantasize that my Great Depression-era Granny is still alive, and that I can introduce her to these people. Talk about your reality shows! Think 90-year old SuperNanny who has no qualms about either spanking you or turning you into home-canned vegetables. That's some must-see-TV right there.
This morning, one show featured a house in California that had once been a church. Somewhere along the way, people stopped worshiping there, and a family converted the building into a private home. The owners even went to the trouble of having the priest come out and "de-sanctify" the property, a ceremony that officially removes the sacred objects from the church and "reduces it to profane use."
I didn't understand it at all.
Today, I felt like my house was going the opposite direction: elevating itself above the profanity of too many things; sanctifying itself to be a purer, emptier space in which to worship, listen, and pray; taking from all that it has and giving to others who lack. My home is a holier place tonight, not just because I cleaned out some closets, but because I made more room for my God.
I often turn on HGTV during my cleaning sprees, mainly because I need pretty houses to keep me motivated, but also because I enjoy thinking bad thoughts about homeowners who say things like "We're getting ready to have our first baby, and our 6700- square-foot home on the ocean will feel a bit cramped" or "I don't know how I ever really, truly felt alive without granite countertops." Sometimes I even fantasize that my Great Depression-era Granny is still alive, and that I can introduce her to these people. Talk about your reality shows! Think 90-year old SuperNanny who has no qualms about either spanking you or turning you into home-canned vegetables. That's some must-see-TV right there.
This morning, one show featured a house in California that had once been a church. Somewhere along the way, people stopped worshiping there, and a family converted the building into a private home. The owners even went to the trouble of having the priest come out and "de-sanctify" the property, a ceremony that officially removes the sacred objects from the church and "reduces it to profane use."
I didn't understand it at all.
Today, I felt like my house was going the opposite direction: elevating itself above the profanity of too many things; sanctifying itself to be a purer, emptier space in which to worship, listen, and pray; taking from all that it has and giving to others who lack. My home is a holier place tonight, not just because I cleaned out some closets, but because I made more room for my God.
2 comments:
Great perspective - I too like to think if I remove clutter from our home, I in turn remove my brain clutter - allowing me more time and energy to focus on Him! Thanks for sharing =)
So, you can de-sanctify a church bldg eh ? Who would have thought. Maybe HGTV needs to know that you can re-sanctify your home too.