Fresh and Clean - Again!

Since I retired I have taken on some home improvement projects at the house. The first project was a minor demo to the bathroom which then turned into a complete room make-over (which I am thrilled with) although in the middle of the renovation my husband canceled our TV cable to prevent me watching any more home improvement shows! (Actually we decided together to save money. Yea! More money for home improvements!)

Recently I decided to do some touch up painting here at the house.  We took the old paint can lid to the store to match the paint color. It looked the same. But when I rolled it onto the wall it dried distinctively lighter, fresher, and cleaner than the original paint.  It looked good!

But it made the rest of the wall look bad – dingy, dark, dirty.  Imperfections that went unnoticed before showed up in stark contrast to the fresh new paint.  What started as minor touch-ups has become a major paint job. Again! More work than I had anticipated.

My husband said that over time the UV light changes paint color – what was on the wall now isn’t the same as what went on years ago. Funny how I hadn’t noticed. The change was slow and subtle, but the color was different.  I hadn’t seen it until fresh paint went on.

I think that happens in people’s lives, too. What was once fresh and bright and good can over time become dull, dingy and routine without us noticing. Sometimes it’s an attitude or a thought. Sometimes it’s an action toward others.  Sometimes it’s a heart for God.

I need to pay closer attention, to stay fresh and clean.   

• In my Attitudes 

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 

• In my Thoughts 

Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

•  In my Relationship with God and with Others 

Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

  

Oh – and my painting project? I still have a way to go before it all looks fresh again, 

but I like what I see so far.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth 

so that you have sincere love for each other, 

love one another deeply, from the heart. 

1 Peter 1:22

  

Dear friends, now we are children of God, 

and what we will be has not yet been made known. 

But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, 

for we shall see him as he is. 

All who have this hope in him purify themselves, 

just as he is pure. 

1 John 3:2-3