It’s time to spring clean!
Jewel Patterson
Guest writer
Hello readers! It’s time to spring clean! Now, wait for just a second! Before you keep scrolling or maybe exit entirely, this is not your typical spring clean I’m referring to here. It’s not the kind where you’re going to go grab a bucket of soap and water and scrub the baseboards in your house. It’s not the kind where you walk to your closet and figure out what clothes you’re going to keep or to give away. No, no, no! That is not the assignment for today, or at least not literally.
The spring cleaning that I’m inviting you to take part in is one that will be much more beneficial to you, and when you are done, boy, are you going to feel clean! Practically a new you!
Psalms 51: 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalms 139: 23-24 says, “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.”
Today, I am inviting you to take a self-inventory, a self-evaluation. I invite you to open up the closet of your heart and bring to light the issues that you have suppressed. I invite you to reach way in the back of your mind to those painful memories that you just can’t seem to get over. I invite you to lay aside your pride and bring resolve to those “elephants in the room.” You know what I’m talking about! It is time to give these things to God. For every bit of clutter that you have in your heart, or in your temple rather, that is less room that God has to occupy. When you go to clean your closet, sometimes it is so difficult for you to let go of a dress, shirt, or outfit you haven’t worn in years! In a spiritual sense, sometimes we do the exact same thing. We want to hang on to things we’ve outgrown or issues that we may eventually run back to as a safety blanket or coping mechanism. But I urge you to welcome God into your heart and mind so that he can do the work for you. The hardest part isn’t getting clean but giving God the go-ahead to do it. It is time to let it go and let Him in!
God is a thorough cleaner, and He doesn’t leave behind any marks or residue. During this time of lockdown, we have received ample time to work on ourselves, but the time is approaching for us to come out and resume our daily lives. If you allow God to deal with the deep and secret things (Job 12:22, Daniel 2:22), He will heal, deliver, or do whatever needs to be done so that He can take his rightful place in that place which was at one point full of mess and clutter. Psalms 51:7 “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” God is the ultimate handyman and custodian! He can do whatever needs to be done. I encourage you to take advantage of what’s left of this spring, and allow God to spring-clean you up! He can do it! Just allow him to!