Lent - Spring Cleaning

So…how do you feel about spring cleaning? Do you love it? Do you hate it? I know some people who love spring cleaning. After a long, cold winter that is spent inside, they see spring as an opportunity to be more active, take inventory, and begin cleaning up their households, yards, and anything else they can think of. They get things in order. Perhaps things have put off during the winter. They thought about cleaning this, or taking care of that, but it was too cold, the weather was too bad, or they just wanted to stay inside. Well, welcome to “Spring Cleaning.”

Not everyone enjoys this ritual though. There are some, who, for whatever reasons, have no desire to spring clean. There are other things they would rather do with their time. Perhaps, they don’t see the need. Perhaps they look past any clutter that might have accumulated over the past year.

Which camp do you find yourself in? Or maybe, you love to spring clean, but your spouse doesn’t see the need. Or maybe you don’t like to spring clean, but you know it is something that has to be done. After a while, we do accumulate way too much stuff and have to start putting things in order. Or maybe it has been years since you really had a good cleaning and you now know it is time.

I find the season of Lent also gives us an opportunity for cleaning things up. Lent is a time we can take a spiritual inventory. It won’t help with your yard or getting rid of things you don’t need any more, but it can make an amazing difference in your life just the same.

Of course we can always choose to ignore this opportunity. We can choose to leave things as is and not take time to reflect on our lives and where God fits into them. However, if we do take the time, Lent can be a time of renewal. Last month I wrote about some practices of Lent such as prayer, scripture, worship and reflection. This month I want to encourage you to use this opportunity to reflect on your spiritual life.

Use Lent for reflection. Where is God calling you? What is your purpose? Where does God fit into your daily days?

Use Lent for Repentance. Maybe it is time to deal with issues such as anger, greed, envy, bitterness, unforgiveness, grudges or broken relationships. Maybe there are things for which you need forgiveness and you know it is time to move in a different direction.

Use Lent for renewal. It is hard telling what God has in store for you when you take the time to draw near to him in reflection and repentance. I find that it always leads to some type of renewal. My prayer is that this season of Lent you might discover renewal in your life and through that renewal you find transformation and abundant life.

Peace,

Dave.