What I do. part II or Making the Bed

If there is one thing I thought I would never do all my life, it is making my bed. 

For 21 years I have been completely averse to the idea and have thought it was pointless.  It just gets messy again 17 hours later, right?  So what is the point?!  (Besides, my room is usually so messy that making the bed doesn’t really matter anyway.)

But, I am here to prove and confess that miracles do happen.  For the past two weeks now, I have faithfully made my bed every morning.  Sometimes joyfully, sometimes begrudgingly, but regardless it gets made and somehow the world is better for it.

So, you may ask – what stimulated this radical morning ritual?  Did I finally succumb to the twisted wisdom of so many moms across the world?  Did I lose a bet? Am I really that bored after graduation?  Or do I need counseling?

By no means! I have voluntarily, in a sound state of mind, adopted this discipline.  And yes, I consider it a spiritual discipline.

It all started two weeks ago when I realized that the thinking, “I shouldn’t clean _____ (insert bed, car, apartment, self) if it is just going to be dirty again.  What would be the point?” is terribly flawed and detrimental.  I think it was at a point where I had gone a couple of days without bathing and I don’t even remember the last time I washed my car. 

I had been having trouble with that line of thinking for a while and it all came to a head when I realized that such thinking (not cleaning something because it will just get dirty again) is about as theologically unsound as it gets. 

I believe in and worship a God who continually renews and cleans me and the whole world.  A God who went to drastic measures to cleanse humanity that He knew would spit on Him, deny Him, and reject Him over and over again.  A God who I know grants forgiveness when I fall on my knees every night, over and over again, begging for it.  A God of both justifying grace (His once for all redemptive, salvific sacrifice) and sustaining (or continual) grace.

So, what does making my bed have to do with all that?  Making my bed has not and will not become a good habit for me – simply doing something that some people for some reason think is nice.  Making my bed is a spiritual discipline I engage with intentionally in the attempt to unite my thinking and acting and feeling and being to God’s.  It reminds me of and illustrates for me a continual renewal that I see is characteristic of the heart of God.

Just take the book of Judges for example.  Over and over throughout the whole thing we see the people neglecting and forsaking God, and He does everything He can to bring them back - through enemies, judges, divine intervention.  The cycle repeats and repeats through many generations.  Even though they are not naturally a faithful people, God still reaches out to scrub the dirt off their feet over and over again. 

Not to mention Jesus bending over to wash Judas’ feet hours before his betrayal.

I don’t completely know why this is a characteristic of God’s, but my hope is that my small token of making my bed will not only remind me of it, but also help me truly connect with this divine activity in and around me.  It is a discipline that while simple on the outside, has deep and significant spiritual, mystical value.

Plus, my room looks so much nicer now.