Last weekend I was violently awakened by the pounding on my bedroom door and my middle son screaming, “Dad, the bathroom downstairs is flooding!” I did not descend the stairs in a loving, cheerful manner. It probably resembled a rampaging herd of buffalo. I was barking commands like a Marine drill sergeant, back before the military made them take emotional training courses. It was a war zone when I reached the bathroom. Luckily – which probably had everything to do with God and/or my guardian angel and nothing to do with luck – I reached the bathroom before the icky water drained into the forced-air vent on the floor. I grabbed the hand towels and barked orders for more resources. Needless to say, it was not fun.

After the flood waters receded, and the floor had been mopped with clean water, I began

to put things back where they belonged. That’s when I noticed how dirty the plunger holder had become. An odd duality played in my head: 1) guilt for having yelled and used language that would make some sailors proud and 2) the question ‘When was the last time had this plunger and holder had been cleaned?’ Sadly, that question was followed by, ‘Have I ever cleaned the plunger and holder?’ I was mortified by the realization that there were things in my house needing cleaning that had never been cleaned. I turned on the sink to the hottest water possible and grabbed for the strongest cleanser I had.

At some point, while standing at the sink, scrubbing the…ick, wishing I hadn’t let a string of expletives fly while I flew down the stairs, IT hit me: **THINGS** happen (think Forrest Gump). I got the giggles. In the middle of the giggles, I was hit with an epiphany: God loves me, even when I cuss, even when parts of my heart have not been cleaned in a long time, even when I’m coated in feculence… like the plunger and its holder. I don’t know about you, but I struggle with taking a close look at my heart, under God’s guiding light, in order to root out those places that need cleaning. You all probably know that the plunger in your bathroom needs to be cleaned ever so often. Me…I do now; but more importantly, God and I had a long chat, with His light on my heart, a little brighter than before. I’m not perfect, neither am I really knowledgeable about house cleaning, but I’m getting better…and a little cleaner day by day…inside and out.