Spring Cleaning!

We've been blessed with wonderful warm spring weather of late and although it means it's very wet here on the farm and all the "hidden treasures" under the snow are now visible I still LOVE springtime. I've been starting on my spring cleaning today and meditating on all that it means.

Spring to me feels like you get a second chance. You get to clean off all the dust, cobwebs, smudges and really disgusting stuff that you don't even want to think about or acknowledge. You get to wipe that all clean and start fresh.

You get to go through all those old papers and you wonder what you were keeping them for. Some you toss, some you treasure (like my kids writing and art work), some you keep again....just in case.

You get to open bin upon rubbermaid bin and wonder what you might find in each one. When you open some you immediately know what's in store for you. Some of them are a mish mash of "collectibles" that need to be assigned a category and perhaps be put into another bin or perhaps it's time to toss them.

You get to hand off certain items to someone else because they don't belong to you or are not your responsiblity. Some people take them, others leave them exactly where you laid them and you'll need to remind them once again that they own that "stuff".

After you spend a day of it sorting, cleaning, organizing, throwing out, sweeping and washing you are exhausted but yet refreshed. You swear it will never get that bad again....but it does. But yet you still feel satisfied with the work you've done even knowing you'll need to do it again next spring.

All of the above applys to my heart as well and I can't think of a better time to spring clean my heart than when the light of Jesus is shining on the window of my soul and all I can see is dust and dirt and fingerprint smudges. But all I need to do is get down on my knees and apply a little "windex" to my soul and the grace of my Lord brings me a renewed spirit, a spring cleaning so to speak so that I can again bathe in the warm spring sunshine that is His love.

Yes I will find more "treasures" under next winters snow. Yes I will have more dust, dirt and grime to wash off again next spring. I'll have more paper and bins to go through and yes I'll have stuff that I'll need to pass along to the rightful owners. I'll again be exhausted from all of the effort it takes to go through and decide what is to be done with all this "stuff".

But afterwards.....ahhhh, afterwards, the feeling of satisfaction, accomplishment and renewal of spirit is SO worth it.

Happy Spring Cleaning!