Keeping Up Appearances

Remember that picture of my living room a few Monday's ago? It was really, really hard for me to post that picture. Most people who know me well, know that I am FAR, FAR from a neat freak, and that in our house, it's Chris who is the one the mess gets to first. Knowing that this knowledge is fairly common in our circles of friends, I still go to great lengths to have a clean house when I know people are coming over. I recently was mortified when a surprise visitor dropped by in the midst of tornadic conditions in our home. So much so that I nearly missed the blessing of the visit!! At some point I realized that our visitor wasn't coming over to check out how clean things were, and she surely wasn't expecting to hear Mozart playing in the background while Levi and Mason practiced their French lessons and I pranced around in pearls and high heels. THAT would clearly not be reality!! The question I find myself asking is, "what's wrong with the reality, anyway?"
Would anyone love me less if they knew that the remnants of last nights dinner are probably still lingering around somewhere between Levi's chair and Mason's high chair..or that I rarely (as in almost never) make our bed...that sometimes I wash a load of clothes twice because I forget to take them out of the washer before they get a little stinky smelling?
Don't misunderstand me, I certainly believe that these are all areas in need of some improvement, and I do wish that I were better at keeping things in order around here, my intention is not to excuse the mess. However, there are days when this is the REALITY.
If I really desire authentic relationships, and that's really the only kind of relationships I want, (it's too exhausting to do it the other way) then I should be a lot less bothered by the mess, or the kids in PJ's at noon and allow myself to focus on the visit...I can only imagine how much more conversation we could accomplish if every 5 minutes, I didn't interrupt the conversation to spend 5 minutes apologizing for my messy home, dirty kids, and stinky dog!!
So, I'm going to work on being more organized and keeping a better home anyway, but in the meantime if you happen to drop by and can't make your way from the kitchen to the couch, be assured that I'll be embarrassed, but not so much that I'll miss the blessing of your visit and our friendship!!