This time of year I go into denial - It's Spring!, regardless of what Punxatawney Phil said, or what the outdoor thermometer shows. Or the fact that if I went outside in capris and a little short sleeved top I'd freeze my tush off. There's a forsythia wreath on the front door, bunnies are beginning to appear around the house - drat reality, I'm tired of winter. What better way to celebrate being in a state of denial than by doing some Spring Cleaning. Sort of funny since the house looks worse rather than better - the basement still has that 'bomb went off' look, but I know it's all in the effort to clean it up. Sometimes you have to make a mess to improve the situation.

It all started innocently enough - my fish tank water is horrible. A visit to the pet store, bringing home six sweet little yellow fish and the next morning three were gone! Mr. Fish Expert told me the water sample says my fish are living in the tunnel commuters take into the city every day, the one where everyone tries not to breathe til they come out on the other side, 100% of the time. He said the only reason any of them is alive is because they've grown used to it, adjusted, adapted. So we're syphoning off water every few days, the fish are fasting, and I'm dropping some weird chemicals in every day, hoping to remedy the situation. Spring cleaning in the fish tank.

It got me to thinking. I can feel it seeping into me though - that need to clean out nooks and crannies of the house. Scrub the bathroom faucet a bit closer, dust the sills of the windows and the fan blades, go through the kitchen drawers. I'm amazed that God not only made the seasons, and promised us they'd always remain - he created a cyclical people to inhabit this earth. Winter keeps me inside eating soups and other comfort foods, curled up with books on the sofa. Come Spring I want to throw open the windows, hear the sound of birds busy with their nest-building, stick my pasty white legs into some flowerdy capris and get busy cleaning everything in sight.

This state of mind seems to fit well with the Bible study I'm currently doing - Conversation Peace - oh to tame the tongue! The author says we'll work from the inside out - work on the heart and what comes out of our mouths will change. Spring Cleaning of the Spirit. Perfect!

I decided it was a good time to do some Spring Cleaning on my blog too - I started by hitting "all read" - got rid of the guilt and obligation - nobody wants to be in that category anyway, I sure don't! Then I looked at every blog I subscribe to - is it one I really enjoy reading? Am I doing a good job of being relational, a back and forth conversation or am I doing all the talking? Friendships ebb and flow, even in blogging, so I'm hoping to hang onto the ones I hold dear, and do a better job of staying in touch. Maybe I'll have time to get to know some I've added recently.
It's easy to live like my fish - just adjust, adapt, get used to the surroundings whether they're toxic or not. Only when I added the new ones, who were fit as a fiddle, did I realize there was a problem. Much like the windows, baseboards, nooks and crannies of our home, or maybe my tongue or my heart - sometimes it's time to do some deeper cleaning. By the time my neighbor's forsythia bushes burst open in bloom, it should look and smell better around here, and who knows but maybe I'll even look a bit different on the inside too. Hopefully, that will come through in what is posted here.

Labels: Glimpse of the Heart