Spring Cleaning

Over this last week the temperature has risen and we’ve seen a little sunshine. About this time of year Mum would announce that she was doing her ‘Spring Cleaning’.

I have three ‘spring cleaning’ childhood memories… clearing all that was under the beds (sometimes discovering the unexpected!) and Mum cleaning excessive dust… removing all that was stored on top of wardrobes – especially jam and marmalade that she’d made – and subsequent cleaning… emptying living rooms of furniture so that floors and walls could be cleaned.   

I’ve recently started my own spring cleaning. I’m going through my book cases asking ‘Will I read this book again?’ A growing pile of books will not return to the bookshelf. My CD collection is undergoing similar review…

Our garden pond is leaking. The pond-liner is perished in several places. Yesterday I prepared for its replacement… Surrounding paths were cleared and weeded, plants in the pond were re-housed… Later this week I hope to empty it and install a new liner.

Our lives can undergo a ‘spring cleaning’ process:

Review: The familiar, comfortable, and accepted is reviewed and challenged. There’s an openness to discovering the unexpected. Difficult questions are answered honestly.  

Plan: Things that aren’t as good as they could or should be are identified. Inaction isn’t an option. Change, perhaps radical, is necessary. I resolve to move forward purposefully.  

Action: In clearing and decluttering I may uncover the unpleasant or unexpected. Rubbish is removed; the broken needs mending; the ‘unfit for purpose’ is replaced.

Next week Christians throughout the world will celebrate the start of Lent, the forty-day period leading up to Easter. ‘Lent’ comes from the Old English ‘lencten’ meaning ‘spring’ and from the West Germanic ‘langitinaz’ meaning ‘long-days’ or ‘lengthening of the day’…

Lent is an opportunity for mental and spiritual spring cleaning, involving …Personal reflection, review, prayer, preparation of heart and mind …Deeper connection to God, re-focusing, open to and planning for change …Living out that change in the transformed but ordinary daily life.