Roseau Times-Region - Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper

Two things give me incentive for cleaning the house: first of all, getting ready for company, and secondly, before Lisa (Lundbohm) Vacura comes to clean every two weeks. I don't want her to think I am not a good house- keeper. We have ceramic tile on our main floor and upstairs. The basement has hand painted stonework on our solid cement floor. The floors can get dusty but for some reason they feel cleaner than the rug that "used to be the situation". My eyes get used to seeing the jumble that seems to collect itself in waiting areas. Why I see things differently when I am projecting my vision through someone else's eyes, is both interesting and revealing.

I have come up with a cleaning, or a "de-jumbling" method which works very well. Say, I have a room up- stairs, which has become a stash-all place. When I go upstairs, for any reason, I go into that messy room and spend maybe twenty minutes clearing one corner, or table top, etc. Clearing out one box at a time, putting things away, (not stashing the mess in another place). Remember the flood? If you pick up something, bring it to its destination, don't put it in another place of clutter. And if I haven't used something in two years, it better have a good reason to be in my house. Anything that doesn't get used is either thrown, given away or put out as free stuff on the berm. I don't store boxes for resale. It is amazing how quickly a room gets sorted, and cleaned in a week's time. Doing it this way makes a difficult job a ton easier. Packing "stuff" in and not packing "stuff" out can become both mentally and physically unhealthy. Maintenance is better than procrastination, with your house, relationships, and your soul.

About relationships: being quick to forgive others as you hope they are quick to forgive you, can be difficult when you are dealing with difficult people. But it is worth the work, and God will help you. Begin by telling Him where it hurts. Life is not easy. Storing up resentment and anger is like that messy room you never clean. Pretty soon, anger and resentment will all spill out, splitting you at the seams. Yes, you will explode! It will not be a pretty sight! Problem solved? Sometimes, if you live alone or with others who live on the same page as you.

So where am I going with this? Being a super critical harping cuckoo-clock will wear everyone out. Communication is everything and it is good to keep the channels of communication open. Positive and negative communication is learned. If you respond "in somebody's face" they will react in defense, sometimes physically. Be careful. A soft answer turns away anger, or sure helps putt out a fire. In Proverbs 15:1 and the first part of verse 4: we read "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger...Gentle words bring life and health." Difficult decisions sometimes need to be made.

I have salted this column with prayer and scriptural principles. Doing this, always helps my perspective. Saying all this doesn't come along with the promise that things will go easy or that things will go the way you want them to go, but He (God), will never leave you or forsake you. That's a promise!