Dirty vs Dirtier vs Clean

My Mother in Law was coming for the night and I needed to prepare her room. We have a unique set up that we have an apartment built onto the back of our garage that we use as a Pool House and Guest House. Depending on the amount of people over throughout the week, grass trails in and crumbs are left behind, toilet paper disappears quickly and on rare occasions, toilets are left unflushed, yuck! So, I was out there taking inventory and to my pleasant surprise, all that was needed was a bed change and a quick vacuum in a few spots by the doors.
As I began to vacuum one beautiful carpet line at a time, the area which I thought only needed to be cleaned became clean with the area next to it to now appearing dirty. Instead of the room being clean with a few dirty spots at a glance, it was actually dirty with a few dirtier spots that needed more attention. God prompted me to ponder:

* At a glance, everyone looks good, but in fact, "all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." This includes when we look at ourselves. We need to be honest when we look at our self seeing what is there, needing a necessary clean. Same with others, no one is perfect. No one should be on a pedestal of perfection otherthan the Lord Himself! He is worthy of our praise!!
* It takes more than a minutes' time to evaluate what's in your heart. Once you "get in there" you will soon find there are plenty more areas that need to be cleaned up. God is gracious to gently refine us. One layer at a time, one sweep at a time, He cleans us. There will always be crumbs and remnants of grass and if we don't clean them up, it will only pile up.
* Our standard of "comparison" ought to be the Law and Love of Christ, not others. Our standard of "cleanliness" cannot be up against another's clean area. We will become prideful or shameful in comparisons. We can only hold our selves alongside the Lord and be truthfully humbled and cleansed.

Thank You Lord for how You cleanse me, gently but thoroughly. When I hide in a corner and start collecting dust, You are loving enough to shine Your light into my dark little corner and bring me out to be dusted off and made clean. Thank You for cleaning out my yucky areas as well as polishing up my refined areas. Lord, humble us today to willingly accept the cleansing that needs to be done in our own hearts so that our hearts will be pure for You. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Amen.