Cleanliness is close to... what?

I have been in the middle of a mass cleansing.  Our house has gotten so out of order from pregnancy, life with a newborn, and a week of company that I was about to go crazy.  I HATE a dirty house.  I've gotten better.  I can actually go to bed now without having the house perfectly cleaned.  (Although, the best sleep I get is when I have the peaceful knowledge that I won't wake up to a mess....)  But it was getting so horrible that it was even starting to bug my husband!  That's when you know things are serious.  For days I have been waiting for my kitchen to be clean enough for me to, well, clean it!  The counters were finally free from the bug houses filled with all sorts of creepy crawly things.  The chairs were wiped down and up on the table.  The floor was vacuumed.  All that was left was mopping.

Just as I was about to start the glorious process of making my floor shine, the girls ran in with their ballet shoes and music.  Of course I love when they dance.  I told them I just needed ten minutes to get the floor cleaned, and then they could dance on a CLEAN floor.  And wouldn't that be so much NICER?!  The response I got was "we don't care if the floor is clean".  They were met with a "well I do!", and were shoved into the playroom for the allotted ten minutes.

While I mopped I contemplated how NO ONE really cares if my house is clean, except for me.  The only people who comment on my clean house are other MOMS.  My kids have never come downstairs in the morning and commented on how much more peaceful the morning is when the house is in order.  My husband has never taken me aside and said that our marriage would be better if the house were cleaner.   While I mopped, I couldn't help but think about how I spend 90% of my time cleaning up and no one in my family even really appreciates it.  (I mean, come on!  Doesn't anyone else want to know that the food we eat off of the floor is clean?!)

 One time I had just mopped my floored when my friend showed up on my doorstep.  She looked at my floor and seemed so depressed by how clean my house was, and how dirty her's was.  When what she should have said was "Loser, your family appreciates you less than mine appreciates me!"
Or she could have been judgemental and said something like "well, I spent the morning reading to my children and acting out scripture stories while you ignored your's to fulfill your own desire for a clean kitchen."  But no, like me, all she cared about what the cleanliness.

SO WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH?!

Is our constant cleaning really a selfless service to our families, or a selfish one to give us the allusion that we actually control something in our lives?  These questions got me thinking about how mothers are so selfless, and how we spend all our time facilitating everyone else's needs.  I started thinking about how I spend all day working on the their needs and getting everything in order so that Todd can come home and PLAY with the kids.  Then I think of fun things for them to do together on Daddy-daughter dates.  I'm constantly trying to facilitate ways for their relationship with their dad to be awesome, despite how little time he has to spend with them.  Yet, who is doing my chores so that I can enjoy my kids?

You guessed it.  It's me who is doing my chores.

Me who is so desperate to feel like my work isn't in vain, that I'm ASKING my kids to eat on the carpet instead of the kitchen floor because I just need one hour to pass without seeing a crumb or a smudge, or any evidence of human life in there.  One meal to feel like the hours of work weren't in vain.  So that if a friend stops by unannounced, she might feel worse about her situation than I do about mine!

So in a nutshell, I spend all my time doing chores that no one cares about or appreciates.