Airing Out and Cleaning Up
June is busting out all over
All over the meadow and the hill.
There’s a cow out in the stable, and a little calf that’s able
To stand up straight and moo just like its Ma
Oh yes, it’s June, June, June.
Just because it’s June, June, June!
And yes, it is the month of June–a time for flowers and trees and bushes to bloom. A time for grass to be turning green, demanding to be mowed. A time for planting, as the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes states in chapter three, verse two. On our backyard patio, on the round table, there are a few flowering plants yet to be placed in the proper pots, and herbs just rooting and beginning to look good in their pots.
It’s a time for busting out of the stale winter air in the house, flinging open the screened doors and windows, and letting the blessed springy sunshine in! It’s time for perusing through your closets and getting rid of stuff that’s too small, too big, too old or no longer looks good when you wear it. It’s time to look in packed storage closets and rooms, and trashing that “stuff’ that several years ago you thought you might need some day.
For more reasons than one, June surely is bursting out here in the mountains, and it’snearly time! Our granddaughter, Hannah, and her husband Andrew are about to present us with great-grandchild number three. Poor Hannah was here with Andrew last evening for a birthday dinner for her. Poor sweetheart could hardly fit at the table! Reminds me of me when half a century ago, I was pregnant for her Mother, and a year later for Hannah’s auntie.
When I think of cleaning out things that are no longer needed, things that cause us more trouble to store than they are worth, I think about cleaning out the cobwebs of our minds! Some of the memories we store are definitely worth keeping and reflecting on periodically. Other things should have long ago been purged by going through the process of identifying them, telling ourselves the truth about the damage they have caused us through the years, and opening our hearts and minds for God to clean out the clutter. When the junk is gone, there is room for the forgiveness He supplies us to take up occupancy within us, and allowing that forgiveness to flow out from us.
Funny how we allow old hurts to remain taking up the space where God’s goodness and mercy should take their place. You do know what grace is, don’t you? Grace is the goodness and mercy of God that we offer to others who do not deserve it, just like we don’t deserve it from God.
Remember the old hymn written by John Newton, entitled “Amazing Grace?” Newton was the owner of a slave ship, importing African men across the ocean in the hold of a creaky, smelly ship. It is surmised that the tune came from the humming he heard from the slaves he captured and brought to this country.
John Newton was an English Anglican clergyman who served as a sailor in the Royal Navy for a period, and later as the captain of slave ships. He became ordained as an evangelical Anglican cleric, served Olney, Buckinghamshire for two decades, and also wrote hymns, known as “Amazing Grace” and “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”.
From clergyman, to cruel man, and back to Christian. Some transformation, wouldn’t you say?
So today I ask, “What needs to be cleaned out of the closets of your heart and mind?” What resentments, bitterness, rage, or malice do you have stuffed away in the hiding place of your heart or mind? Hopefully you realize that if you have it, it isn’t doing you any good. It could be making you sick physically or emotionally. Think back, examine your heart’s contents, and make a list. Then make some decisions about what to do about that antique and dangerous thinking and feeling. Consider a healing process available through the recovery programs offered at FixableLife.com. Consider a long conversation with God, asking Him for guidance and comfort. And if you’d like, consider a call to us at: 575-973-7793.
Have fun with your airing out and cleaning up!
