A New Problem: My House is TOO Clean!?
Over the years I’ve received numerous emails and comments at RE from women who may deal with a different problem than most of us face.
Most of us worry that our house isn’t clean enough to invite others in, so we either don’t invite, or we think twice about it!
But my friend, Gina, deals with the opposite problem. Her house is SO clean … keep on reading …
I do struggle with perfectionism sometimes, and interestingly enough sometimes I struggle with the opposite. When I hear “your house is so clean! I love your decorations, how do you do it? my house could never be this clean,” comments like these make me feel like people think I’m too perfect and I know I’m not. It makes me feel like I do too much, am too much of a perfectionist or something like that. I know there is a balance and the bottom line is whether I am obedient to how God wants me to live, keeping house included. I appreciate the reminder that my house is not all about me. It’s about others (my family included!) – Gina, Not So Random Stuff
I appreciate Gina’s honesty, as she shares that it actually makes her feel uncomfortable that her house is so sparkling clean.
One thing I’ve learned after entertaining is that when I go to bed at night, after everyone has gone, is to think about the things I had FEARED. And then how those fears never came to pass. The night actually turned out great, far better than I had imagined. My guests were blessed and so was I. And no one seemed to notice the fine details of my house!
Are you a fanatic about your house being “perfect,” that it makes you feel uncomfortable?
Is your home and your philosophy about entertaining designed to “bless” or “impress?”
This is one thing I will never have to worry about!!
But it makes me think that we should really be careful about commenting on how things, or people LOOK! For example, in saying “you are so skinny!” to a friend, we mean it as “you look great!” while SHE might take it as “oh…I knew I looked awful!”.
It’s the same about a house….I would DIE if someone said (and no one I know would be this mean….or truthful!) “your house is a mess!”, and this story shows us that saying the opposite could make someone feel just as uncomfortable and think poorly about them selves.
Note to self: “only say what is good for building up, and gives grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29)