Spring Cleaning

Spring at last!  My favorite season. Everything is so hopeful with its flowers and sunshine, with its promise of renewed life. It’s a time when you want to get up and get things done, like spring cleaning.  Now I don’t want to mislead you, I used to faithfully spring clean but the past several years I’ve completely missed that boat. And it wasn’t out of laziness, either.  There were good reasons, like family illness and two book projects.  Then, about two months ago, I finally blocked out the time, gathered my supplies of rubber gloves, pail, mop, dust rags and an impressive array of squirt bottles and cleaners, and met the challenge head on.  Nothing was going to escape my attention. Not the dusty curtains, the molding, the filmy windows.  Well, it was beyond gruelling but I did it.

The job was overwhelming because I had neglected things for so long. Had I kept up, done a little here, a little there, washed the curtains when I first saw it was needed, etc, I could have spared myself a lot of exhaustion, a nearly pulled back, and plenty of sore muscles.

Sometimes relationships need spring cleaning, too. Things have piled up and maybe there have been good reasons for not handling them sooner.  But now those relationships are strained from neglect, and unresolved conflicts bulge that proverbial rug you have been sweeping them under.  Cleanup promises to be daunting, and emotionally and mentally exhausting, but can no longer be avoided.  

What better time than spring to take stock of our relationships with our family, friends, neighbors and our God, to make sure there are no cobwebs of neglect, no dirty windows to mar our views, no cracks in our molding, no dusty curtain barriers between us and those we love. A fresh, clean house is great, but a restored, renewed relationship . . . well, that’s priceless.

Until next week,

Sylvia