There and Back Again: Week 11

What does a fridge full of abandoned food, a very dirty house, and a pizza party have to do with the Grace of Jesus?? Well, last week we were getting a LOT done, we spent three days organizing our own office and supply room. Think 9 amazing hardworking women who don't need to be micromanaged, cleaning out closets, drawers, and cupboards then sorting, organizing and labeling everything so that all the processes you do in that space are streamlined. COOL EH? Our last day of the week we ventured out again to clean an apartment that had been vacated just before Christmas. We just needed to reset it for the next person to come in. It was a one bedroom/one bath apartment. We put two other apartments on our list of things to do that day, just because we knew it would be a quick and easy job.

OH NO! The fridge was FULL of food, there were clothes, shoes, garbage, boxes, papers, overflowing garbage cans, etc in all the rooms. The bathroom and kitchen looked like they had never been cleaned ever.... At first we thought we had the wrong place...was someone actually living here? OH My! There were several minutes of astounded exclaimations as we investigated each space. Then we unloaded all our cleaning gear from the cars and started in. At first there was a general disgust and maybe some justified frustration/anger. How selfish can you be? How can two nice rational adults just walk away and completely ignore the clean check? Who was their supervisor who was supposed to check them out? Don't they want their expensive bicycle pedals, nice jacket, etc? These were our questions. Our awesome Cleaning Fairy Boss put on a conference talk by the prophet, Russel M. Nelson..."Think Celestial" we listened as we scrubbed, soon we settled and just worked as hard as we could. We would not be getting to our other houses today. We began to laugh at the crazyness of it. Then one wise sister said, "We're not cleaning this up for the people who made the mess, we're preparing for the next people who come so they will feel loved!" She was right. It made me think of our Savior, Jesus Christ...who without disgusted and frustrated exclaimations, willingly comes to our aide to make right all that is wrong, ugly, and unexplainable. Jesus, who makes clean what is dirty and does it with LOVE because He actually DOES clean up messes for the people who make them so that they will feel comfortable and loved in His Wonderful Presense with Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the angels he sends in my life to help me overcome my sins and weaknesses. I am grateful for my angel friends who love me with all my faults and enjoy being with me as I am. I in turn can be an angel for Jesus and help strengthen others, take the load when it's too heavy, and delight in just being together.

Surprise ending: I happened to know the person who had left and texted them, "Hey ___________, did you know you were supposed to clean your appartment before you left?" They were embarassed. My friend didn't realize that 8 sisters were going to be there seeing and cleaning the mess that had been left behind. My friend apologized and ordered pizzas for our lunch to show gratitude for the service and grace we gave them. That pizza totally hit the spot after hours of cleaning. The Grace of Jesus is more delicious than Pizza! Alls well that ends well.