Elbow Grease

1 Peter 1:6-9
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
 
elbow grease
by tim pezzelle
2011-01
 
clutter.  over the years i have discovered that i have a high tolerance for clutter.  i think this is a characteristic shared by many home-school families.  there are always projects of one sort or another in various stages of completion, and i learned early on to interpret this as a good sign: things are happening.  i will also confess, however, that clutter isn’t my first choice. 
 
many, many years ago, i received training in the art of luthiery (guitar building).  the first lesson, on the first day, we were indoctrinated with the number one rule of guitar building and repair: KEEP YOUR WORK AREA CLEAN.  this is obvious; a clean work area helps insure against unwanted damage to the materials you’re working with.   today, when i cook, it can be difficult to tell that i’m in the middle of preparations because i tidy up after myself as i go – keeping a clean work area.  this is, of course, in stark contrast to my wife, whose approach was to see whether scrambled eggs could make the kitchen look like a seven course meal had been prepared - just one of her many endearing qualities.
 
back to clutter.  i woke up this morning with absolutely no intention of cleaning the master bathroom.  i know this because i had successfully avoided cleaning the master bathroom for a very long time.  there are reasons for this avoidance, but i won’t try to convince you that they have any merit whatsoever.  this room had descended to levels worthy of reality tv – i kid you not.
 
let the cleaning begin.  having reached the point where my reasons for not cleaning were overwhelmed by my need for some order….  the frenzy commenced.  i had a vision for what i wanted that room to be, but it would take some work.  much of the process was simply de-cluttering; but, there were some areas resistant to an easy fix approach.  these areas required cleaners, rags and…
 
elbow grease…. hard work… determined effort.   it was almost like the gauntlet had been thrown down.  the master bathroom wasn’t about to change without a fight.  so we fought.  
 
i’m just like that master bathroom.  my life is cluttered with so many things that keep me from being who God wants me to be.  and the cleaning begins.  God takes a pass at the low-hanging stuff and it doesn’t hurt so much – and i actually feel better to be rid of it.  but He doesn’t stop there.  He finds those hard to reach corners and ages old stains.  He sees a version of me that i don’t see and He refuses to leave me as i am.  His elbow grease can be painful.  submitting to that kind of cleaning isn’t fun, and i fight back.
 
the master bathroom is much better now than it was this morning – but it isn’t perfect.  it was stubborn and i was impatient.  but i still see what i want it to be and will try to build on what was accomplished.   the law of bathrooms dictates that it will tend towards not clean as the days go by and we’ll have to do this all over again….
 
just like me.  i tend toward not so clean, but God still sees what i can become.  He is patient and won’t give up.  He will send into my life exactly those things that can move me from who i am to whom He wants me to be.  the question is, will i submit to His elbow grease?  will i allow Him into those messy corners?  will i expose those stains and allow myself to be changed? 
 
yes.  and no.  sometimes i will fight back.  so my ongoing prayer will be that God who challenges me will also supply me with everything needed to submit to His handiwork!  may it be so!