My Not So Perfect House

Hello all!! I had one of my "ah-ha moments" this weekend, and want to share it with you. I feel like a lot of women, especially young moms, can relate to this scenario.
My best friend, Kimberly, came to my house last Friday, planning to spend the night with her 3 daughters. Her husband is currently deployed overseas, and Cline had to work over the weekend, so we decided to entertain each other for a couple of days. She has been to my house before, but doesn't come often, so I was excited about showing off my new couch and latest family photos. I generally try to keep a decently organized house so that when guests come over, it's not a big deal to straighten up and make my house "guest-worthy." Now, before you start feeling inferior, know that there is absolutely no evidence that this "organization" happens between the hours of 10am and 8pm. I stay up late putting as many things back in their place as I can most nights, and many other chores/worthy activities are sacrificed in order to do this. I also have a very helpful husband, who takes the initiative to straighten and clean when I am too busy with the kids or too tired at the end of the day.
At any rate, I was getting ready for Kimberly to arrive, and despite my best efforts, started to get a little stressed out about the things that were still undone. I hadn't changed the sheets on the bed she would sleep in, hadn't put away the last of the Christmas decorations I had found a little too late, hadn't hidden my piles of paperwork on the kitchen counters, and the kids had pulled out several toys that really discredited the orderly illusion I was trying to create. I'm pretty sure that while I was prioritizing these tasks, someone needed to be fed, someone needed to be changed, and someone (Abby Kate) had pulled all of her clothes off and was running around naked.
As I started to realize that I had more to do than I had time for, I found myself snapping at my husband and my kids. I went into frenzy mode, and began ordering people around as though the world would actually end if Kimberly entered my house and saw a sock lying on the floor. As I spoke with unkind words and a harsh tone to my sweet husband (who was doing his best to help me), I remembered a concept about motivation that I'd recently discussed in my bible study. As I heard myself treating the people I love the most in the world like servants who enjoy being bossed around, I asked myself what was my motivation to clean my house to perfection?? Was it that I wanted to show love and kindness to my guest and make her as comfortable as possible while she was here?? Or was it that, in my selfish pride, I wanted her to think that I must be an awesome woman to have such a perfectly clean house with 3 small kids?? That I wanted glory?? That somewhere in a deep, dark place of myself that I don't want to admit exists, I wanted her to be envious of my home-keeping skills and comment on how great everything looked so that I would (shamefully) feel like a better wife and mom than her for a few minutes??
I quickly realized where my motivation was coming from, and it was not a godly place. If I was going to have a spotless house within 20 minutes, it was going to come at the expense of my calling to be a godly wife and mother, treating my husband and children as I would like to be treated. And even if we did manage to get everything tucked away in closets, my house would be spotless for all the wrong reasons.
So, I re-organized my game plan. I let the kids get back to playing with their toys. I apologized to my husband (I think :) for speaking to him so harshly and for not being grateful for the help he was offering. I threw the clean sheets on the bed, vowed to change them after Kimberly arrived, and then I got rid of the dishes in the sink (because they were gross, and I decided that would be a genuine effort that might make her feel more welcome and comfortable). A few minutes later, my friend arrived with her kids, and we had a great weekend. Our 6 kids destroyed the house as soon as they walked in! I thoroughly enjoyed their company, and I spent a lot of our time together thinking about what a great wife and mom SHE is and how she really goes the extra mile to make her husband feel loved and appreciated while he is away on top of the many duties she is managing at home.
It was a fun weekend, for sure! I love having people over and feel so blessed to have a home for family and friends to gather comfortably in. I pray that from now on, my biggest desire will be to glorify God and what HE has done in my home and in my family to everyone who walks through my front door instead of highlighting what a perfect homemaker I can pretend to be for a little while.