Time for a Cleaning

Today we went out and bought a vacuum cleaner. I am embarassed to say that we have been without one since before Christmas when ours began smoking while I was doing some holiday cleaning!We had been sweeping the rugs and doing our best to keep up with the dirt levels, but still the dirt was starting to become noticeable. Having received confirmation that our tax return had been deposited into our bank account, we finally had the "extra" money to make this purchase.

We immediately came home, took it out of the box, read the instructions and got to work. Even our two little boys were excited! Let me tell you, the difference was amazing. It is so nice to have clean floors again.

I think that our souls are a little like my floors. I can remember my first grade teacher giving a lesson on sin. She drew a circle on the chalkboard and told us that was our souls. Each time we sin, a little speck got placed on the circle. Eventually, more and more specks (sins) got put on until a good portion of the circle was colored in. When we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the soul got wiped cleaned and we had the opportunity to begin anew.

Sometimes, we don't even notice our souls getting a little dirty. We may, with God's grace, manage to avoid the big sins, but even the little ones begin to add up. Like my floors which looked perfectly fine for quite a while, eventually the dirt becomes noticeable. Lent is a good time to get a major cleaning via the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you need more encouragement, check out "Lord Have Mercy" by Scott Hahn. It is a wonderful book which brought me back to the Sacrament last year after four years away.