© photo by michelle bryant
As I sit on my screen porch and observe the reddest cardinal I have ever seen on my back fence flirt with what I can only assume is his girlfriend, watch several butterflies dance across my yard, and a few finches feast on the seed I have abundantly provided for them in a nearby feeder I am also enjoying the buds as they form on the trees and the flowers as they start to peek from the ground. The wonderful arrays of color in nature through my yard are a constant reminder to me that spring is finally here.
Like many people, I tend to take advantage of spring to give my house a good deep clean on the inside. I open the windows and let in the fresh air everyday, to rid some of the musty, winter, closed-in feel, scour baseboards and floor corners, look for cobwebs, clean the ceiling fan blades, organize closets, clean the garage and so on, making every inch spic and span, fresh and bright for entertaining and having guests over throughout the summer.
Whereas most of us do this with our material houses few of us may realize that we should also do this with our spiritual houses as well. Psalm 51:10 says: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. We get out our brooms, scouring pads and pressure washers for our homes in an attempt to get them ready for guests and visitors but then go about our daily lives just the same today as yesterday.
We need to take time each spring, (perhaps while we’re on our hands and knees really scrubbing the corners of the floor), to give our spirits a good cleaning as well. Perhaps ask God to show us any skeletons, rid us of any cobwebs, to shed light on any dark corners we might have been avoiding all winter long. Ask what needs some maintenance? Prayer life? What needs a good cleaning? Thought life? What needs repaired? Relationships? What needs to simply be thrown out? We need to get our spiritual life cleaned spic and span ready for the greatest visitor of all.
I encourage you to ask Him to create a clean heart in you then sit back and watch the buds open and the blossoms bloom – in your yard, in your life and in your heart. Happy Spring!!
© michelle bryant