All the ladies and at least some of the men are aware that housekeeping is a never ending effort.  As soon as one pile of dirty dishes is cleaned and put away, a new batch of dirty ones is already being generated.  The same is true for laundry and the multiplicity of other things that go into making a presentable house. 

With the arrival of our grandchildren—a journey that we have been traveling for more than a decade now—there are new challenges to keeping things at home in a survivable condition.  One day several years ago, when our middle granddaughter was two years old, I heard Gale speaking to Jaleah in a voice of strict urgency as she told  her not to push the storm door any further open.  I reluctantly asked if she had damaged it; the answer was encouraging, although not concrete, as she replied, “I hope not.”  But then, what would Papa be good for if he did not have to fix what they break?

Storm doors are good for a lot of things—they make a nice entryway and they make it possible to see outside without letting too much of the outside in.  They are also a nightmare to keep clean if you have little girls running around at an accelerated rate of speed!  One day after the storm door glass was cleaned to a near spotless condition, I looked in from outside to notice one of the grandchildren with her little face pressed so firmly against the glass that her nose and lips were flat.  Thankfully, the girls have grown up a lot, which means the handprints are also bigger, but if that is the most severe problem we ever face as grandparents  it will be just fine.

Our lives are a lot like that glass—they get dirty over and over.  But the good news is that God is willing to clean us up again and again.  With His forgiveness He desires for us to grow up spiritually and not continue to allow the same sins to get us defiled repeatedly.  Just as I can patiently tolerate those little dirty handprints (that are growing bigger all the time) on an otherwise spotless glass surface, I also expect them to grow up and not display childish behavior.  I believe that God has the same sort of expectation of us; He expects us to mature spiritually and refuse to be defeated by those things that we were once overcome by. 

When you look at your life, do you find that you are still getting spiritually dirty from the same habits and temptations that have robbed you of spiritual victory for years?  If so, do not give up—ask God to clean you up one more time.  He will, because of His unconditional love for you.  Next, ask Him to help you to rise up above those things that so often defeat you.  Then cooperate with Him as He works within you—do what He wants you to do so you can become the person in Christ that He wants you to be. 

You can also allow Paul’s words recorded in Philippians 3:12 to become a source of strength and encouragement for you:  “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (New International Version).