With all the warmer temperatures we have been having, it has got me thinking about spring cleaning. While I’m not much on scrubbing my house down on a weekly basis, it is very satisfying to open the windows, let in some fresh air and start cleaning out the clutter. Making some room in your home can be really freeing.
On years I’m feeling froggy, I tackle the whole house in one day, top to bottom, all the while driving my husband crazy. Other times when my body says, “slow down there!” I resolve to tackle a cabinet or closet per day till I have made it through the whole house. Through this process, I’m reminded of trinkets that bring back beautiful memories and some items that I’m not even sure where they came from.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. - Psalm 139:23-24
This idea of spring cleaning the house, which I am not ready to do on the first of March, got me contemplating taking time to spring clean my heart as well as my house. Over the course of a year, we can accumulate a lot of baggage in our hearts that isn’t very good for us. The problem is….we keep ourselves so busy with things that often those unhealthy items stay packed away in the recess until some random day when they don’t and it all comes crashing out.
We have disagreements that we ignore but never really address so we neatly pack that away on a top shelf to deal with later. Our feelings are hurt by someone close and we rather not rock the boat or make it a big deal but with every new hurt that closet becomes harder to close and our smiles more fake.
We face a loss that is devastating, yet we don’t take the time to allow ourselves to walk through those feelings, instead, we press forward telling ourselves that we will make time when it is more convenient.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: - Ephesians 4:31
All of these emotions and circumstances can allow us to harbor ill will, bitterness, anger, and resentment if left packed away. Worse than that, they can begin to cause us physical distress from the weight of carrying them around.
The Psalmist had a great deal to say about this topic. Over and over again, they sought for God to search their hearts, to reveal to them the condition of their soul, and they cried out for God to clean and restore their joy in Him.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. - Psalm 51:10
So, rather than just clean out our cupboards and closets this year, what if we do the really hard and scary work of seeking God and allowing Him to reveal to us the areas we need to clean up in our hearts? The areas that are keeping us from fully abiding in His presence, even the things we are most terrified of letting go from our past.
Who can understand [his] errors? cleanse thou me from secret [faults]. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous [sins]; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. - Psalm 19:12-13
How much lighter and free would we be to live in the fullness of mercy and grace if we decluttered our hearts and allowed the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into our weary souls?
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