Keeping Clean

Imagine. You are in school and you come home and walk into your bedroom. There is a note left on your door which reads

I will be gone for a period of time

I don't know how long I will be, but I will be back when the boss tells me to go home.

When I return home, if your room is clean to the following criteria, I will take you out for some ice cream!

Your room must

• Have nothing on the floor
• Your bed must be made neatly
• Be vacuumed
• All of your clothes washed, folded, and put away in their correct spots
• Smell nice

 I can't wait to see your clean room, but remember, if there is anything out of place, you don't get the ice cream.

          -Dad

Now, who wouldn't want to go get ice cream with their dad! So he could return at any point, it could be a couple minutes it could be weeks, you don't know! So what do you do? Wait until he get's home to throw everything under the bed and make it seem like you kept it clean? Do you work on it little by little and hope he doesn't come back before you are done? OR do you clean whatever mess is presently there, and make sure that everything stays in order at ALL times? Obviously the safest choice is the last one, and even though it requires the most effort, it is the most worthwhile path to choose. 

This can be compared to our lives. Christ told us the criteria that we need to follow. He WILL come again, we won't know the time, all we know is that He will be back. So how will you live your life? Will you keep living an unclean life and try and make things look like there is nothing wrong when the time comes, or will you try and rid yourself of vices one at a time and hope that you will repent in time and finally be ready. Or will you do what it takes NOW to clean up, get active and do what it takes to be clean and then to stay clean. My earnest prayer and desire is that we will all take this life seriously, that we will do what it takes to be living a mortal life worthy of all the blessings that our Father in Heaven is waiting to give us, namely Eternal Life. I know that this is something that is possible for ALL of us to do, no matter how messy our rooms are right now!