I have never considered myself to be a great housekeeper. Regardless of whether it is or is not one of my talents, I love being surrounded by cleanliness. This morning I had some time to spend cleaning and organizing, dejunking and decluttering. While there was certainly more I could have done in that room, after only an hour of cleaning, I could feel a palpable difference in the aura of the room. It felt great!
As I pondered the difference in the feeling of the room, I recognized in the experience the truth that is affirmed and reaffirmed daily in so many things around me. That truth is that there is a constant need to spiritually clean, organize and de-junk negativity from our lives.
Have you ever noticed how, after a week of coming and going, that a room will take on a cluttered almost unkempt look? If it continues on longer, the room can get downright overwhelming! I think our spirits are like that too. As we go about our days, interacting, we pick up feelings and emotions from our experiences with others, that sometimes we choose to carry around. At first we don't notice them there, but left unchecked, they can become overwhelming and at that point we no longer know where to begin to get rid of them. Often we are tempted to point fingers at others... "Why did you...?" .... rather than taking the responsibility of carrying them around ourselves. Truly, nobody makes us carry around their baggage, if we get some from them, it is by our own choice whether we are conscious of it or not. OK, you get the idea, I could probably go on for a bit about that whole cluttering our souls process.
If we choose to declutter our lives regularly, it will never get as overwhelming as it could (and trust me, you don't want to know how overwhelming it is possible for life to get). Dejunking spiritually is a daily process. It is a process that we are very much in charge of. Some will say that they have to work through a problem, and you can sense in their reasoning a desire to hang onto the problem for whatever reasons.. injustice, hurt feelings, etc. However, in that reasoning, there is no decision made to GET THROUGH the problem. Spiritual housekeeping requires a personal commitment to get rid of it, to throw it out, to LET IT GO! Only by deciding to get rid of junk will we clean out our garages and storage rooms that are packed with generations of boxes, trinkets and useless nick-nacks. Spiritually cleaning also requires decisive action, to be rid of negative influences in our lives.
So how do you box up unwanted issues and get rid of them, and seriously, what second hand store wants those kinds of things!? Believe it or not there are answers to both questions.
First of all, spiritual cleanliness is reached through 1) repentance and 2) forgiveness. We have to be willing to take upon ourselves responsibility for our own actions, do all we can to resolve them, learn from our mistakes and become a better person from the things we have experienced. At that point the issue is ready to be boxed up and given away. You don't ever have to open that box again, but it has to be given to the right person, because nobody else will take it and keep it for you - nope the wrong person will always bring it back. So who is the right person? The only One that can take your burdens and problems from you, is your Savior, Jesus Christ. As you complete the repentance process, you will tangibly feel His love and peace fill your heart. That is right, He takes your burden from you, and then He fills you with serenity and love... He doesn't just leave you empty! This is an indescribable process. When you clean a room, you might wonder, "How in the world, does this room FEEL so different? It is the same room. It is the same size. It has the same amount of light on. What makes it FEEL different?" I, personally, cannot explain why a room feels so much better after it has been tidied up, but I KNOW that it does just as I know that repentance does the same thing for our spirits.
The second part of reaching spiritual cleanliness comes from not only receiving God's forgiveness, but by extending it to others. You will never have that light, happy, peaceful feeling of good spiritual housekeeping if you have been harbouring heavy, dirty, grudges in your heart toward others (including God). You know, by our measure, sometimes, people just don't seem to deserve our forgiveness. But don't fall into the trap of deciding who deserves and who doesn't. God said that all mankind deserve to receive the forgiveness of each other. God alone will decide who is forgiven and who is not... and I might add, He is VERY, VERY generous in extending forgiveness. I once read a book in which the author asked the question, "Is God more worried about the sin, or about what you learned from the mistake you made?" I believe that He is most concerned about the lessons we learn from our mistakes. A person who has learned his lesson, turned from sin, and become a better person should NEVER be judged a sinner by another. When it comes down to it, we are not authorized to even determine if a person has become better. We are only authorized to forgive. To let it go. This too is a conscious decision, but if your heart is not listening to you when you make the decision, your housekeeping is not complete. ONLY when your heart is consistent with feelings of love and forgiveness for others, can you be completely rid of that spiritual clutter. I know, that even those who are not remorseful, can be forgiven AND it feels WONDERFUL to forgive them. Again, it is a burden you can package up and, given to Christ, you will never have to pick it up again. Nobody else can ease the weight of such garbage from your soul even if you THINK you have given it away.
When my home is clean I can truly relax, I am happy and my heart is light. I love to sit in a quiet, peaceful room that sparkles and just absorb the wonderful feeling that encompasses it. Even as wonderful as this physical experience is, the feeling of cleaning the soul, taking out the garbage and knowing that it will be collected through the mercy of the Atoneing One, is a feeling that is exponentially better. The JOY that fills the soul of one who declutters, dejunks, and cleans out the corners, is truly desirable.
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