Spring Cleaning

The pristine snow of winter's beauty has taken its leave. It has been replaced by rich green grass carpeting the earth, begging barefoot play. The plants and trees are heavy with tiny buds promising fragrant beauty in the near future. And everyday, we are awakened by the songs of beautiful winged creatures whose seasonal job is to herald the springtime. Winter is gone and Spring is here.
Every year, many of us take this seasonal change as an opportunity to do some Spring cleaning. We wash windows, flip mattresses, oil cabinets, vacuum under beds, shampoo carpets and clean drapes. We wash, wipe, dust, and clean everything as if our mother in law was coming to visit! From past experience we know how wonderful it will feel when it is done. We know the pleasure that will be ours when we wake up to a house so clean one could eat off the floor. We know how we come to enjoy the smell of Pine-sol, Windex and Pledge. We like that we would not be embarrassed if any unannounced guest showed up. We also know that just like every other Spring, we will make a resolution that "this time, we are going to keep it this clean".
Perhaps we all need to a little spiritual spring cleaning. Perhaps we need to take a real and honest inventory and clean up a little. First we need to cleanse our hearts. We need to identify our sins and weaknesses, and ask God to help us, ask a brother or sister to help us, to pray for us and then surrender to God's workings in our life. We may have to lift up some rugs to see what sins we have been hiding under there and then with God's help sweep those sins out the door rather than in a corner or under another rug. We also need to iron out any problems we have in our relationships. Whether the wrinkle is our doing or the doing of the other party, we need to put forth the effort to smooth out the wrinkles. Then we need to de-clutter. There are so many things, so many possession, so many activities in our lives that many of us find it difficult to "find" time to spend with God. We cannot have an intimate relationship with Him if we don't spend time with Him. He should be our top priority. We need to sweep away all anger, bitterness and envy from our hearts. Those emotions leave a sticky film on every conversation and every interaction. We must get rid of them. This will require liberal use of forgiveness and forbearance. Most of us see the world through our own filters. ( I am working on a post about this for a later date). Our filters are made up of knowledge and life experience. They are the windows through which we view the world, the church and the Father. If our filter is smeared and smudged or out of focus, we will have a distorted view of everything. So, we need to wash some windows. We need to spend time in God's Word to insure we are seeing clearly and keeping life in focus. Finally we need to dust off our Bibles and get back into the Word. Only in His book will we ever find the plan for keeping our heart clean.
Spiritual spring cleaning is very important. Important because we do have a houseguest. We are hosting Deity. He lives in us and our hearts and minds need to be clean and ready for Him. This may require getting down on our knees. It may require elbow grease and effort. It may require help from other Christians. Spiritual spring cleaning may require all of that---but the effort will be worth it. A clean house is healthy, germs (sin) can't abide here. A clean house is calming, stress stays outside. A clean house is welcoming, goodness and light can thrive here. A clean house is necessary. Where sin lives, God will not. Light and darkness cannot co-exist in the same home. Friends, lets all welcome this change of season, welcome it as a time of new birth, a time of growth, and a time to clean up the place of the heart.

Peace
Neva

Hab. 2:20 "But the Lord is in His holy temple . . . "