Spring Cleaning
I saw a sign of spring today
Bright flowers now in bloom,
People mowing their lawns
Cleaning off porches with a broom.
Bicycles going down the street
Crowds of children now at play,
Other’s playing a game of ball
Oh, what a beautiful spring day.
Many are doing spring cleaning
Washing windows inside and out,
Some just sitting in a chair
Watching children run and shout.
The warm sun beating down
Soft brisk wind in your hair,
Makes you drift off in a dream
A sandy beach oh, your so there.
The night slowing coming to an end
For tomorrow will be a another day,
Make plans of things to do in your mind
As you slowly lay and drift away.
– Jodie Steward
According to the calendar, spring has sprung! Some days here in the mountains, it still feels like winter, and other days the thermometer reads above seventy degrees, and that’s typical mountain weather.
What tickles me is that the lemon thyme that I planted in a huge pot last spring, is already up, green and growing daily. This means that one minute I need to get outside and pull dried up old junk out of the other pots, re-work the dirt, and get ready to plant again, but not until the end of April or the first week of May. We have seen it snow in April here, and don’t want such an occurrence to ruin my few flowers and herbs.
As I’ve been writing, I have been thinking about spring in our hearts. Spring cleaning is surely something I have always done in our home, but this year there isn’t much energy for that. I recall my mother taking down the draperies of winter and replacing them with white organdy ruffled curtains. They were so beautiful and made the house look like the calendar said it was–SPRING! I know that among all of the other duties that are mine, sifting through “stuff” is going to be the major project this year–downsizing!
When I think that our August anniversary will celebrate 54 years of love and togetherness; when I think of all the places we have been and the souvenirs we’ve brought home with us, all the books we’ve collected, all the furniture we’ve inherited (and some we’ve purchased) and all the clothes (mostly professional clothes) that I’ve hung onto, it amazes me how much will have to be sold, given away, or taken to a thrift shop.
But most important, I think of the “Spring Cleaning” that we all have to do – the removal of the collected “junk” that we tend to hold onto in our heads. “Like what?” you ask. How about words said to us that cut like a knife? Are they useful today–were they ever useful or helpful? How about experiences that we consider to be betrayals–are they collecting dust and cluttering your mind and heart? What will it take for you to process through them, like I am going to sift through things that no longer are needed, and let them go? You do know, don’t you, that God is happy for you to give the painful memories to Him, thus allowing your daily experience to be cleaner and clearer?
I have a box full of pictures, family, friends, and places. I will have to go through them and ask myself–“How many snapshots of your wedding do you have to have anyway?” Perhaps just one of us together in our wedding garments will do. I may send one away and have it done on canvas. I have lots of pictures of our daughters and our grandchildren, but not everyone is needed.
Clutter is dangerous! Definitely not needed.
One of the other things we hold onto is worry–indecision. It is said that making the wrong decision is better than indecision, and I agree. Yet for me, I do not want to run ahead of God and in so doing, make the wrong decision. So what do I do most of the time? When I am having difficulty making a decision, I hand it to God and give Him the responsibility of showing me without a shadow of a doubt, which way I should go. Is waiting on Him difficult? Yes, but then I keep reminding myself that He is in charge, and He will give me the patience to wait on His answer given to me at precisely the right time!
So . . . back to spring: spring cleaning of all sorts, which I shall begin in earnest this week. I will take my time so as to not exhaust myself, counting on God for the cleaning out strength and His wisdom, too.
