art of diversion

Ever notice how much easier it is to get things messy than to get them clean? You could clean all day and in a matter of minutes it could look like nothing was done in weeks.

When I was in the military, we had room inspections regularly. I would clean for hours only to be told I had a little dust on top of the light bulb above my mirror. I remember thinking I would never spend that much time again because no matter what I did something was going to be wrong. It was never going to be good enough. Then there was this one time I waited until the last minute. I wasn't really concerned about the inspection until I learned it was going to be one of the higher ups doing the inspection. I was desperate so I had to get creative. I took some pine-sol and wiped it around the frame of my door so it would smell clean when they came in. I threw everything in sight under my bed and turned on a small lamp to keep the room dimly lit. No, I wasn't being romantic...

When the crew came to inspect my room, they opened the door and was immediately greeted with the smell of cleanliness!!! Then they tried to turn on the light but I had it set so the ceiling fan was on but there was no light except the lamp. I was sitting there acting like I was reading but was really praying "dear God let this work". I acted like I was not expecting them and looked surprised when they entered. I welcomed them in and said I could step out if they wanted to inspect without me being there. I managed to get them in conversation and before they knew it time had passed and so did my room inspection. They didn't even look at my room. They commented on how clean it looked and any room that smelled this good had to be clean.

I passed without even being inspected because of my ability to cover up and divert... I don't think my room ever got inspected again. The inspector would come in, smell the pine-sol, make some small talk with me and then exit my hidden mess of a room. I was amazed at how easy it became to cover up my mess and keep it from being discovered.

I think this is how a lot of people live. They cover up junk and if it is ever close to being discovered, they divert the attention to something else. This is a sad place to live.

My point: Take the time to get to know people for what is beyond the clean smell of pine-sol (or whatever they try to cover their junk with). Pray for wisdom to know when someone is trying to change the subject or dance around the issue. If you are the clean smelling diversion king - get some help.

What are you hiding... Holy cow, look out!!!