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• ERM
  
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  Spring Cleaning

  13 April 2009 at 12:49pm

  Ok, I’ll admit it. There is one thing I dislike about living in Pennsylvania - the winter time. Oh, I like snow, but only when I’m skiing or sledding. Once a year is plenty for me! I don’t like the cold that accompanies it. I don’t like wearing coats all the time. I don’t like having to wash the salt off my car every week. I don’t like scraping my windshield when I want to go somewhere. I guess all of these intense feelings of dislike stem from the fact that I grew up in good ol’ South Carolina. But you know, there is one thing I like about the winter…spring always follows it. The faithfulness of the seasons is very comforting to me. There is something about the spring air that rejuvenates me.
  Now, when we talk about spring, we often hear about spring cleaning. You know what I’m talking about. This is when your Mom goes crazy and makes you help her move everything in the house that’s not nailed down so she can clean under it, around it, behind it, on top of it, and everywhere else she can reach. Your house gets a complete wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor cleaning. If you sit on the couch for more than 5 seconds without moving, you get cleaned. At least, that’s what it was like at my house growing up. And of course, that cleaning frenzy includes YOUR room! Well, if you’re like most, you are probably not incredibly excited about this new found exuberance for cleaning that has suddenly overtaken your mother. But, you know it’s a good thing to do, so you help her on her week-long project of making the house look immaculate! It’s then that you realize that your room has not been cleaned really well since last spring. So there are piles of unorganized things overtaking your closet; there are old clothes that you’ll never wear again just taking up space in your closet, or under your bed, depending on where you threw them. There is clutter on your nightstand and dresser, and dust everywhere that has been collecting all winter. Then you finally realize, “Wow, I better do something about this mess.”
  Well, just like we examine our house after the winter time and do some major cleaning, so ought we to examine our spiritual condition. Has dust been collecting? Have you piled up little sins in the corner hoping it won’t make a difference? Has your walk with God become stagnant? Have you become unconnected from the Vine as John 15 warns us not to do? If so, then allow the change in the seasons to be a reminder to you that you need to clean out your heart also, and allow God to change you for His glory. Paul, in the book of Ephesians, put it this way: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
  So I embrace the spring! The new life on the trees and plants is a reminder to me that I need to be willing to change, to not be content with my current spiritual walk. My cry to God is the cry of David when he said in the Psalms, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” This must be a daily cry to God. To remain connected to the Vine means being daily in the Word, growing, and ridding our lives of the old, sinful nature. For our lives, a once a year overhaul just doesn’t work. The dirt piles up way too quickly, and Satan gets a foothold on our hearts. If this is where you find yourself, remember that God is faithful. He is waiting to create in you a clean heart if you will just humble yourself before Him! Just as spring always follows the winter, God will do a new work in you also. But you must submit to Him.
  So when you’re cleaning your room, be reminded that God is much more concerned with the “dust” in the crevices of your heart then the dust under your bed (but you should clean that too!).
  “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” – Psalms 51:10
  Ah, yes, the Spring!! Bring it on!!
  Signing off,
  The Philster