Kitchen floors & new beginnings

Something dawned on me about an hour ago. I think the best way to explain my new revelation is through an analogy:

You decide you want clean kitchen floors. So you commit to cleaning them. You buy the newest cleaning tools and products and return home on fire to clean that floor. So you scrub and you clean. When you're done the floor is sparkling. You sit back, proud of your work. For a few days you work to keep it clean, picking up things that you drop and being careful not to track anything on it. But you don't clean it again. Because, hey you cleaned it once. You made that commitment and gosh darn it you worked hard at it that one time. Why should you have to re-clean it? Can't you just pick up the big things that fall? Isn't that enough?

Ridiculous, isn't it? We all know that eventually that floor will get dirty. Heck it probably already is dirty again. You don't have to go out and buy new products and supplies every time. You just have to renew that commitment to having clean floors and clean it again. And again. And again. And again. No matter how often you clean it, you'll have to do it again.

Health--physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, financial--is no different. One big grandiose restatement isn't enough. You have to constantly renew that commitment, remove the dirt and scrub it clean. Just like cleaning up the big chunks is not enough when it comes to that kitchen floor, saying I ate an apple today and I made a big commitment to health isn't enough either. Sometimes picking up the big chunks and eating an apple is the best you can do in a day. And that's okay. So long as you clean that floor and recommit yourself to your health.  Our commitment to ourselves, each other and our God is not a one-time deal. It has to be reaffirmed just as frequently, if not more frequently, than our kitchen floor has to be cleaned. C'est la vie. Distractions & dirt happen in life. Neither will resolve itself and willpower alone is not enough. You can't will your floor clean and you can't will yourself thinner/closer to God/more financially savvy/smarter/more emotionally balanced. You have to put in time and effort.

When it comes to your health remember what that shampoo bottle says: wash, rinse, repeat.