Clean the corners first.

While preparing a lesson for my young women on the importance of having a house of order and cleanliness I remembered something about my Grandma.

When I was little we used to go over to my Grandma Larsens house alot. All of the cousins would be there and we would play for hours and hours. Our favorite game to play was library. We would make a huge mess. But it was so much fun. Looking back I really feel bad for our imaginary customers. It was quite an involved procedure to check a book out from us. We would scan, stamp, slide, bag, signature, log, and backgroud check every book. When it was time to go we had made a massive mess.

Grandma really didn't care for our game of library. She got to the point where she would come down and give us a warning that it was time to clean up. She used to tell us to clean the corners first. We thought it was the weirdest thing to say. After years of hearing the instructions I asked her why. Why did she always tell us to clean the corners first?

She told me that she knew we would not leave a big mess in the middle of the floor, but we had no problem leaving a mess in the corners.

I have thought about that advice several times over the years. I think it can be aplied to several different situations. Not often do we leave obvious things undone, or obvious sins unaccounted for. But, what's lurking in the corner? Clean the corners first.