A Lesson from My Kitchen Floor

When a hefty spoonful of finely chopped veggies accidentally catapulted onto my left sandal and spilled onto the floor, I groaned. Transferring minced onions, celery and carrots out of our food processor and into a glass bowl turned out to be trickier than I thought.

Grabbing a paper towel, I knelt to scoop up the mess. That's when I noticed the sorry state of my kitchen floor.

Really sorry.

Only moments earlier it looked fine. But with my face inches away from scary goop, I gasped. What struck me is that in that position, there was no escaping the truth. Just a single glance convinced me I needed to do some deep cleaning.

Likewise, kneeling before God puts us in a position for Him to reveal the scary goop clinging to the edges of our own hearts. Things might look fine on the surface, but our hearts are depectively wicked (see Jeremiah 17:9); probably even in need of some heavy-duty scrubbing.

Kneeling is an outward sign of inner humility. It's a posture of reverent listening, as opposed to the distracted listening that qualifies as today's normal. Kneeling allows us a completely different perspective--and sometimes that's exactly what we need.

The next time I'm making pasta fagioli soup, I won't mind at all if I accidentally send food flying over the edge my kitchen's island. God knows I can always use a little more time on my knees.



22 comments:

Terri Tiffany said...

Excellent post. It reminds me that I haven't been on my knees literally except for cleaning my floors in awhile. Hope your day is great!

Anonymous :) said...

It's amazing what you can learn when you spill something. Good post. So true.

Bonita said...

Love this Julie! I think you ought to turn it into a devotion and send it for the P31 online devotional.

Next time I'm feeling distracted I'm going to recall your words and kneel down to tune into God and tune out the world.

Tammy said...

Picking things off my kitchen floor,even right after I've cleaned,I think the same thing.

But now when that happens, I'll have another reminder.

Great post!

Jody Hedlund said...

Ah, I think I'll have to remember that the next time I'm bending down to pick up spilled food. It happens a lot in our house and usually it's a race to see if we can get the food picked up before the dog gets it! But when I'm down on the floor, I too can intimately see the dirt that is crusted into the grooves of my floor. I'm sure it's often a reflection of the wet swifter that God needs to take to my heart!

Bridget said...

Great post Julie. Thanks for sharing and being so encouraging!

KelliGirl said...

Julie,
I love how you've packed so much into a relatively short post. Every word sings.

I agree when we stop breezing past, covering up and ignoring the details of our lives we really see our messiness and our great need for a divine cleansing.

Hope you're well in FL. It's so hot here now I feel like we're neighbors! (And Dan said he saw 5 inches of snow yesterday in Colorado!)

Blessings, my friend,
Kelli

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

Great post. Wonderful idea. Bonita is correct. It would make a very good devotional.

Lisa Smith said...

love the lesson! I need to do both get on my knees and clean my kitchen floor. Things can look great until we get up close, can't they?

Sonya Lee Thompson said...

Hi Julie,

I loved this post. It really hits home with me as I seek God's direction on holiness. Timely read for me!

Hey, come by my blog to see why your feet are lovely.

Sonya Lee

Eagles Wings said...

Wow that's all I can say...Awesome post!

Rachel Beran said...

You're always so good at looking for those "teachable moments" throughout the day. :)

What a great post! I need to mop my floor today. When I'm down on my knees scrubbing those extra stubborn spots, I'll be thinking about this post...and my need to clean up my heart as well.

Ginny said...

Most excellent! We all need a little kneeling to humble ourselves before God.

Kelly said...

Looks like you knocked it out of the ballpark, huh Julie? Talk about positive reinforcement. Great post, and a great response. Kudos to you!

achildoftheking said...

That has so much truth in it Julie. Me and my husband went through this late last week. God revived our marriage that as just days from being broken.

Billy Coffey said...

What a great lesson for me today, Julie! Of course, now I'll have to mop the floors when I get home...

Cheryl Barker said...

What a good reminder about the importance of kneeling. And by the way, I think we can all use a little more time on our knees!

Anne Lang Bundy said...

Oh how I've learned this. We have a washer that regularly floods the laundry room, despite best preventative efforts. God has a way of timing it when I most need some reflective time on my knees. Go figure!

Sarah said...

Touched, blessed, inspired, not to clean my kitchen floors, but to look at my life through His eyes.

You blessed me tonight. May the Lord bless you back in abundance!

blessings from Costa RIca,
Sarah Dawn

Diane said...

Excellent post! I'm sure there is plenty laying around on the floors in my life.

Jill Beran said...

Great words! Isn't it amazing the situations that bring us to our knees when we least expect it? God does work in wonderful ways!! Blessings, Jill

Karen Hossink said...

I love it when God takes the ordinary and shows us extraordinary. Spilled vegies, or a personalized lesson from your Maker. Hmmm. I'm going with the personalized lesson.
He doesn't waste a thing!
Good for you, for having eyes to see!

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