Spring is finally here. Can you feel? Can you see it? The temperature is beginning to climb. The birds are singing their early morning melodies. The trees and flowers are beginning to awake from their winter slumber. What an exciting time of year! Everything is coming alive again. Even we humans are getting excited. As the weather begins to get warmer, we emerge from our wintertime cocoons and find ourselves heading outdoors to prepare our yards and flower beds, practice our golf game or maybe start walking to shed that winter weight gain.
At this time of year, I always think of my mom. She would decide that one week she would “spring clean” the entire house. Most of us don’t even think about such a thing. It’s hard enough to clean on a weekly basis. This cleaning, however, was unlike the weekly housecleaning she always did. During ‘spring cleaning’ week, she would disassemble each room and clean it from top to bottom. No corner or cupboard or curtain or dresser was left untouched. Furniture was moved and dust bunnies that had collected over the past year were swept away. All bedding and curtains were washed, hung outside to dry, ironed and returned to their proper place. Knick-knacks were taken down from shelves, washed and dried, then put back sparkling clean. You could tell that something inside the house was taking place because of the fresh clean smell. Mom was exhausted by week’s end but there a certain satisfaction with a “job well-done’.
As I was doing my devotionals one morning, the Lord impressed upon me the importance of a good “spiritual spring cleaning” in my own life. He reminded me how necessary it is to clean out the junk that I’ve let accumulate in my life. And believe me, it does accumulate, sometimes on a daily a basis. It is so important to deal with things as they come up instead of hiding them in the deepest, darkest corners of our lives and hearts. This spiritual cleaning should take place more than once a year like cleaning the house does. When we do this cleaning, we need to look into all those hidden places, dig out the stuff that’s buried down deep, and bring it to the surface so it can swept away just like the dust bunnies. We don’t have to do this alone. God is there to help us with the cleaning. He will do his part but we need to do ours. Are you uncertain about what needs to be cleaned up and cleaned out? Prayerfully ask the Lord to reveal those things to you and to “create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in me” – Psalm 51:10. Just as the house had a fresh feeling after the spring cleaning, we too will feel a difference in our lives. As we make this cleaning a part of our daily spiritual walk, we will know when, and if, a deep-down cleaning needs to take place. Don’t you want to feel spiritually clean all the time? Why not start your “spiritual spring cleaning” today. You’ll be so glad you did.
-Ann F.
