Spring Cleaning My Soul

Job 37:21 “And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.”

The tiny seed knew that in order to grow it had to be set in the dirt, covered in darkness, and struggle to see the light! I myself have plunged through the darkness as it tried to envelope my soul, I stretched out toward the light and that is the time I burst forth with growth. The dirt (darkness) enriched me and cleansed my soul.

I know it is early for Spring-cleaning but it is never too early for cleaning of the soul of all the leftover fragments scattered behind from the previous year. With the doozy of a year behind me, the dismantling of the Christmas season, I’m faced with a liberating feeling of cleanliness. That is what happens when you clean up and put away the old and make way for the new. 

Only five days into the New Year and already I’m feeling the presence of change, so much so that it is moving along in a smooth flow: of words, of actions, of deeds and of promise. This year is setting itself up to be a rapid succession of energy that spills out into my writing, my cleaning and my meditating. I’m in awe of the visible transition.

Some people would rather wait until spring to clean out closets, toss away old clothing, get rid of unused stuff and junk, but me, I do my spring-cleaning when my soul calls me to make some semblance of this clutter that has filled these four walls. I didn’t start off the new year wanting to clean and shake this house up and get rid of the excess baggage tagging along collecting cobwebs. It just came upon me as I slept, hugged me when I woke, and moved me into action.

Granted my back is in no better shape than it was last year but this year I’m not letting my disability alter my active lifestyle I had before this thing called arthritis gripped my NOT-OLD back! I have not even reached the half a century mark and my back thinks it is moving into the seventies. Since my mind is still back there in time, where the thirty-year mark saw the seedling spurt with growing pains, now my nearly half a century old mind is giving a speeding ticket to my body and telling it to ‘hold on now’! But hi ho silver and away I go growing like a newly planted seed.

I’m not one to hoard because I learned quite a few years ago that they are all materials and can be gone in the blink of an eye and all you have to hold onto is memories of the physical hindrances, sometimes called artifacts of your past. This ‘stuff’ that I’m soul-cleaning is newly acquired stuff lodged in my mind as new experiences, new thoughts, and brighter comfort zones. 

I have a tendency to hold onto my old ways, my own pattern of thinking, not allowing the new age of things to play games in the basketball court of my mind. My soul-cleaning is going to consist of closing the doors on the negative thoughts that sometime ensnare me in their web and cloud my God thoughts as satan has set out to do on this earth. 

If I seem to be living my life out there on a cloud, distanced from what some call reality, it is my way of clinging to the new growth that is before me awaiting the springtime air, the season of MY New Year, and the bringing forth the solidarity of strength in my eternity. If I dip into the pool of confusion, like so many cling to this day and age, I will lose sight of my self worth and become stagnant in a clouded puddle. 

Pss. 91:1 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

I will continue on the path of soul-cleaning, bouncing back refreshed and renewed with a new perspective on life. Some will enjoy the change, some will hide because they fear change, some will embrace my soul-cleansing and come along for the ride.

John 15:3 “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”

May God bless YOU on whatever journey YOU are embarking on this year. 

Poetry Sunday ~ The Road

Phil. 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

The Road

The road is blemished in an odd way

it started with my waking day.

A pebble here, small stone there

tossed about without a care.

My road is darkened, often bleak

I wander the path for all I seek.

Purged from innocent winds I fly

longing to know the reasons why.

Throw in the towel and give it all up

am I worthy to drink from His cup?

He kissed my head, held my hand

gave me strength for which to stand.

The path was lit in a rainbows flare

my eyes soon saw possibilities there.

All from me or blessings from Him,

the road now bright no longer dim.

Sometimes we see no light to guide

Mistruths, mistrusts we long to hide.

Inner peace is not from this world

nor in agenda of a flag unfurled.

Struggles are often the seeds of growth

I am full owner of them both.

As I stand and knock at pains door

a blossoming blessing rocks my core.

It’s not about our physical sight

that gives us all the will to fight.

Simply put it’s how you revere love,

as muddy waters or a snow-white dove.

I give it my all in withering strife,

the road less traveled becomes my life.

It’s not the road, in which you travel,

It’s that which you sow in rich soil or gravel.

Lent: Day Nine ~ YOU are the Church

1 Cor. 1: 9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 YOU are the Church

These words still ring in my ears, ‘YOU are the church.’ Pastor Mike said these words one week during a sermon and they’ve stuck with me ever since. What on earth did he mean?

Well he said something more like, “When you enter this building every Sunday, it is merely a building, it isn’t until all the people are gathered here that it becomes a Church, you ARE the church.”

No matter where I put the emphasis, ‘I’ am a part of the bricks (community) that form this church. That’s a lot to drink in. Many people go to church once a year for whatever reason but they are not a brick in the building, they’re a colorful decoration in the form of a flowerbed outside the building.

The once a year-ers are no different than the ones who sit at home listening to a weekly service coming through to them via the airwaves, they are a flower in the flowerbed. Don’t get me wrong, if you are sick, disabled, unable to attend a church building, you are nurturing your spirit in your own way.

But if you’re sitting at home listening because the whole ‘building’ thing is not for you, you become the soil. I know this firsthand because that was me twelve years ago. My oh my how life has changed. Changed because of a building, you say? Not at all, changed because of a community, a congregation of family, brothers and sisters of Christ bonded together, knitted like a fine afghan.

For too many years I was sitting at home week after week filling myself with God. Reading, believing and listening to the very word I would one day share with the world. Not because I’m preachy because I’m a human who has walked where you have walked, a sinner just as you but I CHOSE to change.

God is like that, you know, gives us the CHOICE to change or to stay stagnant. Growth cannot and WILL NOT happen if you don’t CHOOSE to change. Soil DOES hold the power to bring forth a flower. It also has the ability to form a brick in the making of a building.

If you attend a church and the first sermon you hear has words in it that speak of tithing and giving, and offerings, then you should leave and seek out a new church. Sometimes it takes a few visits to get to the one that speaks to YOU. If you feel the people are judging you, you should leave. If you feel uncomfortable, leave.

I remember when we first started attending church about ten years ago. We found a community that embraced us, we had the pot luck brunches, we shared, we tithed and for four years we enjoyed the church until the minister made a mistake when Steven was going blind. We were seeking Social Security and I had said that I was trusting God to see that we received S.S. He told me that you can’t ALWAYS trust God, sometimes you need a lawyer because S.S is not easy to get.

Not trust God? Really? My entire life has been centered on trusting God AND receiving the fruits of my labor and now a minister is telling me to NOT trust God? Needless to say, after four years of attending that church, we sought out a new one.

And as God promised, we received the S.S., found a new church but then we were called to Nebraska. We then set out to find a NEW church that was right for us. We went to two different churches and while they felt like a snug fit, we needed an extra-width because we had grown in our faith.

We found it at eFree; a community that wrapped its arms around us and blanketed us in a comfortable layer as we braced for blindness. We were no longer just flowers in soil, we were a brick forming a building!

About our third or fourth sermon at eFree, Pastor Mike had said as the offering plate was being passed around, “If you’re new here, this plate is not for you, it is for the members who wish to give to the community of Christ. If God has placed on your heart to give, by all means, but this plate is not us begging for money.”

A year would pass before the mention of money came up and he addressed it as, “People keep asking me why we don’t ask for money or talk about money and tithing? Tithing is about believers who understand the meaning. If you’re new here, we don’t want to turn you off by always asking for money. That’s not what we’re about. We’re about Christ and HIS message to you.” Wow!

You’re right if you’re saying that not all churches are like that. You’re right if you’re saying most churches are about money (mega churches for example) but that IS NOT what a church is supposed to BE about. The church is about you, becoming a brick in the solid foundation of a community. You are not meant to be soil, you’re not meant to be a pretty flower on show, you are about change and what a community who’s built on growth can do for that change.

Our church is about people! We serve the surrounding community, whether it be meals, whether it be shelter; we have mission trips to other states and countries and encourage change and growth. The church parking lot is not filled up only on Sunday’s, it is filled every day of the week with some form of activity; be it bible studies, women meeting for further study or men meeting for further study, or kids (college age) who attend two a week sermon’s for them, or Awana for smaller children. All in all, our church’s main function is growth, change, and most of all commitment to Christ.

A church is just a building until YOU fill it; it then BECOMES a Church. Thank you Pastor Mike for making it all clear to me. I’m NOT just a flower I’m a brick forming a building! I’m still learning and growing but without my community of brothers and sisters, I’d be just soil.

Acts 16: 5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.