Spiritual Spring Cleaning

The other day, Brad went on a cleaning sweep. He cleaned off his dresser, tossing old magazines and tidying items. Call it a Spring Cleaning, if you will. Then, at my suggestion, he cleaned out his closet. We went through every single shirt, sweater, pair of pants, ball cap, suit coat and hoodie in his closet. We ended up with three full bags of clothes to take to Good Will (or share with friends). This is the first time in years we've gone through Daddy's closet. First off, it's hard to find the time to do this kind of purging, but secondly, he really doesn't like to throw things away. When we finished, he said repeatedly as he walked by the cleaned, tidy and perfectly stacked items in his closet, "Wow, just look at that!"

I made Anton do the same thing a few days later. Time to say goodbye to shirts or pants that just didn't fit anymore or weren't worn in the last year or so. It's never a fun thing to do, but it sure is cathartic. When the two of you move in together, know that just doubles the stuff in your life, so it's good to occasionally see what is necessary to keep and what to let go.

Sometimes we need a thorough cleaning in our lives. Yes, physically, to rid ourselves of material possessions we just don't need anymore, but also spiritually, too. We need to take a deep look at our lives and decide what needs thrown out, what needs reorganizing and what needs a good cleaning.

Recently Ayla and Rob decided it was time to find another church. It wasn't that they didn't like the church they were attending. They enjoyed the sermons and worship music, but they weren't making a connection to the people there. And no matter what they did to try to integrate, the efforts were coming up thin. They knew it was time to make a change for their spiritual growth. I personally examine my spiritual life every week in Reunion Group. It's like a closet cleaning every Monday morning. And every year, I fill out a spiritual measurement questionnaire to see if I'm growing in my faith.

Take stock of where you are spiritually. Are you growing closer every day to Christ? Are there things in your life that are bogging you down spiritually? Are you over-committed? It just might be time to do a little Spring cleaning.

Discussion: Is it time to do any Spring cleaning in your physical or spiritual life? What are areas in your life that need cleaning? Decluttering? Removal? What are some things that when combined with your beloved's things might need to go?

Prayer: Father, we pray our physical and spiritual lives are decent and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). Help us to examine our lives to remove what may be inhibiting us from doing our best to serve you. In Christ we pray, Amen.