Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus

Spring Cleaning (ugh? or ugh!)


As is the case in North America, there are different sections of the city where we live, which are more affluent than others, some areas have well maintained (by Peruvian standards) homes, most neighborhoods are filled with graffiti, and others have no running water. Some streets are paved with painted lines for lanes although there are often more cars than there are lanes in the width of the street. Other streets are one-way, but you will often see motor cars and taxis driving in both directions. Then there are dirt roads, and still others you can hardly tell where the dirt path is leading. But in all these areas, there is a certain amount of spring clean-up going on! After all, it’s February and this is considered good weather. It’s summertime in South America.

From the roof top of our apartment building, we can see a large corner building being tiled on the outside and a new coat of paint has been applied. About three homes can be seen which have recently received a fresh new coat of paint. There are workers facing off a recently completed brick building. A new home (plywood walls and roof top) has been erected on a roof top across the street, just today. A neighbor has been building a restaurant on his roof top and friends are there every weekend. Another neighbor has painted his wrought iron fence. The list goes on and on.

All this clean up reminded me of spring cleaning back in the states. It’s the time where we spruce up our homes and yards. We do what we can afford. Large projects are exciting but costly so they draw a lot of attention from those in the neighborhood. It’s the same thing here.

My thoughts have turned towards my own life. And I have asked myself a few questions. Am I in a spring cleaning mood? I can always use a little sprucing up! Am I in good repair? Maybe the cleaning and sprucing up only comes when I’m at a conference, or at a retreat. Is it only during special times like those that I give attention to the spiritual needs of my heart/home? Am I willing to take the time and go to the expense (sacrifice) to get myself back to where I need to be? What will it take to make myself more presentable? I want to suggest that you consider the same questions for yourself. Do you need a spring cleaning?