Putting your house in order

She was dying, but that was OK. She had lived a good, long life and expected to die a good death. For days, we had gathered around her hospital bed. As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she would greet visitors and manage to make jokes and wisecracks.

Toward the end, she was less alert, but would still rally enough to talk. One of the last things that she did was to motion for her daughter to lean over her. Then this woman whispered something in her daughter’s ear. Her daughter nodded her head, which seemed to comfort the woman.

I knew the family well enough to dare and ask the daughter what her mother had asked. I was fairly certain the question was serious. It may have been about a long forgotten offense, or simply an affirmation of love and concern.

I was not prepared for the woman’s question. Realizing that after she died people would come to the house, the dying woman asked her daughter, “Is my house clean?”

For me, the last thing that I would be worried about on my last day would be a clean house. Not everyone would agree with me. In fact, I live with someone who would be worried about the very same thing.

Before we leave for a long trip, Linda cleans the house feverishly. For my part, I say, “Why bother? No one is going to be in the house. There is no one to dirty it.”

She disagrees, “What if something happens to us on the trip?”

I ask, “Do you mean like we die?”

“That is exactly what I mean. I would not want our family and friends to come into a dirty house. Then they have to clean it.”

She had a point but I had an answer. “OK, if we die on the trip. The family is going to be really upset. If they have to clean the house, it will be something to take their minds off their grief. You know it will keep them busy. We are doing them a favor.”  

Then I added, “Plus, if they are not sad, then they deserve to have to clean up!” That made perfectly good sense to me. She disagreed.

When we use the expression, “put your house in order,” we are quoting the Bible. In 2 Kings, Hezekiah, the king of Judah, hears from God. “Hezekiah, put your house in order, for you shall die.” That was not exactly a Hallmark message.

As it turned out, Hezekiah did not die, at least not right away. In fact, when the Lord heard his prayer, God gave Hezekiah another 15 years and a home remedy for bad boils.

Unfortunately, Hezekiah did not make the best use of the 15 years. He did not really put his house in order. Instead, he opened his house and all he owned to a neighboring superpower that ultimately defeated Judah.

After Hezekiah died, his house fell apart. Hezekiah was succeeded by his son Manasseh, who was arguably the worst king in Judah’s history.

To put your house in order is to take care of business. Yet, it has to do with more than dust and dirt. It is to prepare for the day when you are not there. To put your house in order is to put things together in such a way that anyone can come behind you and carry on. They can pick up where you left off, instead of pick up the pieces.

So, Linda is right. Before a trip we leave a clean house. I feel OK about it. Though to be honest, I would have taken some satisfaction in the thought of my children having one last opportunity to grumble about something they had to do for me.

Dr. Mark Ross is the pastor of Marion Baptist Church. To learn more about MBC, visit http://www.marionbaptistchurchva.com/.