“Too bad guinea pig is not alive to enjoy this.”

Yes, our family pet of one week, the guinea pig named, “Guine” or “Duncan” or “Bevo”–depending on the hour or day you may have talked to my daughters–peacefully passed away long before his time on Saturday night. He was a youngster, who witnessed the darkest days of clutter and chaos in my house before the dawn hit Sunday night with a house you could walk through without tripping on something that belonged anywhere but on the floor.

So, when my oldest daughter surveyed the hard work of her little sister and me, her first thought was that it was a shame her guinea pig never had the opportunity to freely frolic through the upstairs. My cleaning princess, who now has the new nickname “crew chief,” kept me inline during the weekend. Ordering me off the couch during the NFL playoffs to either fold the clothes for donation (I heaved 9 garbage bags of clothes in the donation shed) or neatly organize in their respective bedrooms. All  the while, she would make random costume changes into her old dance recital costumes while spraying windex on everything!

My first thoughts Sunday night did not go back to our sadly departed guinea pig, but were of peace and victory. I overcame my pack-rat mentality of storing everything, and removed a lot of clutter from my life. I have too many things to do, and it was very difficult to focus while stressing myself out over the disorganized state of my home. Now, I can freely work on all of my other part-time jobs, and have given full power of authority to our “crew chief” to kick us in line when things start to get out of hand again. The ability to delegate duties is the sign of good leadership, right?!

But all of this got me thinking about how many times in my life have I undermined myself or God’s desires for me by giving in to my natural tendencies (ok, weaknesses)? It’s easy to be complacent, and go with the flow–like not wanting to clean because I have a million other things to do. Then, eventually all of that junk in my life accumulates to the point of becoming a burden. I loose complete sight of the goal I was originally striving to achieve, and end up consumed by the small things that I let go unchecked.

Thankfully, God has provided my youngest daughter to help keep me in check and hold me accountable in the cleaning department. Now, I just need to remember to continually reach out to the friends He has blessed me with to keep me accountable in all my other weak areas….

The other lesson I learned was from the guinea pig–seize the day because the unexpected usually comes when it’s least expected!