Saturday, December 06, 2008

The Wrong Sort of Clean

I've just started reading Great Expectations (after a disappointing disguised-as-fantasy-but-actually-a-"Christian"-romance book, which I stopped halfway through). This will be the second longish book of Dickens for me to read which is not for a class. I like it already, though it does start out drearily. Poor little Pip. He's an orphan, and his older sister and husband are bringing him up, though she's not the motherly sort at all. She's a good example of what I do not want to be like, either as a housekeeper, sister, or mother. She says some very mean things to poor Pip, but here's a quote I found convicting regarding housekeeping:

"Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and some people do the same by their religion."

~Charles Dickens~
Great Expectations


I must remember that the very purpose of cleaning house is for the comfort and blessing of those around me. Sometimes I forget. And my life lived to God should also be a blessed and joyful thing, as inviting as a welcoming house which, though best kept clean (or godly), must firstly be filled with love.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:33 AM

    That's strange, we actually did have to read "Great Expectations" for a class! But rest assured, it's a good book nevertheless... ;-)
    If you ever get around to it, though, I'd also suggest "A Tale of Two Cities", my favourite Dickens novel.

    By the way, what are you up to these days, apart from reading of course?

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  2. Rael9:09 AM

    I think I've read A Christmas Carol a long time ago. And then I read Hard Times for a class, which I enjoyed, but I was rushing and didn't get to savor it. I haven't read TTC yet, though I have listened to the dramatized BBC version of it several times. The first time through I confess to hardly liking it at all. Maybe I was too young, and it was too depressing. Over several years, and more attempts, it grew on me, and now I like it. I do plan to read it one of these days. :-)

    As to your question, I decided to make it a post.

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