“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Have you ever heard that “cleanliness is next to godliness”? Some actually believe that this is written in Torah, in the Bible but it is not. However as I was cleaning my home Friday morning in preparation for Shabbat I did have a wonderful time with the L-RD, let me share it with you.

Friday afternoon is cleaning day, dusting, moping, doing laundry, things like that. It is nice to enter into Shabbat with a clean house. As I was getting ready to clean the floor I thought, “It has been a long time since I got down on my hands and knees and really gave the floor a good scrubbing.”

As I cleaned, I was able to get in the corners where the mop usually misses and I was surprised just how fast that water turned black. As I made my way in front of the kitchen cabinets I noticed just how dirty they were and by the time I got in front of the stove I thought, “The health department should come and close this place down!”

I realized that when I mop the floor with a mop, while I am standing up, I have a lofty vantage point and my house looks clean, but when I’m on my hands and knees it looks totally different.

That is when the L-RD spoke to me. When I pray standing or seated, when I have a lofty view of myself, my life, it looks pretty clean. It is not until I am on my knees before my G-D that I start to see all the dirt in my life, all the corners I have missed and just how black that water really really is.

When I thought about it I realized that the time I spend on my knees is not nearly enough. I am not sure what causes me to think that there is any other position I should assume when talking to my G-D at least for that one on one quite time.

I have worked around woodworking machinery for the past 42 years. In the first year of my trade I was told concerning working with the machinery, by the Mill Forman “Familiarity breeds contempt”. I have the same healthy fear of my tools today as I did then… and all my fingers are still the right length, Baruch Ha’Shem. Then why am I praying lying down in bed or sitting? Has familiarity bred contempt? Have I forgotten just who I am talking to? Yes He is my Father and He loves me and I love Him but He is also G-D Almighty.

Not only did I realize that the time on my knees is not enough but my time in prayer is not enough as well. Yes my life is one constant dialogue between me and Ha’Shem; good thoughts and bad thoughts alike, but there has to be that intimate time I spend with Him, like the time spent between a husband and a wife, or that “Father and son bonding time”, “those Kodak moments”. From what vantage point are we viewing G-D? Just A Thought

Cleanliness may just be next to godliness but we need to be on our knees to serve them both well. What G-D does say about cleanliness is found in Isaiah 1:16: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil”.