How Did I Miss Those Dirty Walls?

Tonight we have company coming over, so yesterday I was cleaning the baseboards, dusting and just doing what I "normally" do when I know that company is coming.  As I was wiping down the baseboards in our hallway, I happened to look up at the wall.  Please, someone tell me how in the world I missed noticing, for so long, those dirty white walls?  I mean there were red marks, black marks, something that looked like chocolate milk splashes, and little boy fingerprints.  Really?!?  I have had a ton of company since before Thanksgiving, and not once, while I was cleaning, did I look to see if the walls were dirty.  Though I can't imagine that everyone else completely missed it....

So, I got out my beloved Magic Eraser (if you haven't tried one of these - you must!), and I wiped down the walls in the hallway...Ahhhh...  Then I moved into the entry way, and wouldn't you know, there was much needing to be wiped off on those walls too.  So I kept wiping - into the living room and then the kitchen.  My walls are spotless, at least for today.  However, you better believe that from now on, as I wipe the baseboards, I will be looking up to check the walls.

Now, as I was pondering how I could possibly overlook the dirt on my walls, I began to wonder what filth I could be overlooking in my heart.  I think that all too often we (I) notice other people's oversights and dirt, and remain happily oblivious to our (my) own.  My prayers yesterday and today have been especially focused on asking God to shed light on those things that I need to clean in my heart.  (For I'm sure that others have noticed the cleaning that I have neglected - AND I know that God knows.)

Proverbs 20:9
" Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?

Psalm 51:10
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.


Hebrews 10:19-25
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."