Yuck!

Today I had the privilege of doing one of the worst household chores - cleaning the carpets.

Actually I don't mind cleaning the carpets - too much. We have a small carpet cleaner that's kind of like an up-right vacuum. It works fairly well and it isn't too much effort. The bad part is dumping that nasty, black water out of the machine. Yuck! I always swear not to walk barefoot on the carpet again after that. It's disgusting. I swear the vacuum must be broken.

The carpet doesn't look that dirty. But the water tells a different story. Kind of like our lives sometimes. We don't look that bad. Everything seems ok. But a closer examination reveals the truth - we have some pretty big stains with a lot of dirt. Sometimes we try to hide the stains, this is kind of like putting a throw rug over the stains. You can't seem them as much anymore, but they are still there. There's only one way I know of to get rid of the stains - a deep cleaning. It takes effort and it is dirty, but it gives the best results.

Have you got a big stain in your life? Do you need a deep cleaning? Ask for forgiveness. Forgive yourself. Forgive the other person. Ask God for forgiveness. It's not always easy. But it sure feels good to be rid of big nasty stain!