I can smell it in the air, spring. Inhale, drink in the promise, the hope of spring. There is more light, the sun is gaining power. You can stand in the rays now, and feel a penetrating warmth. Nature is bringing forth a new beginning. Birthing through the darkness, you can feel it starting to happen, under blankets of snow there is an energy, a life force starting to stir from its deep slumber of winter. The birds harken forth, they call out to all, Awaken! The time is upon us to prepare for a new beginning, our own fresh start. Lent is a season of preparation, a time when we are beginning to feel the stirrings of spring, a stirring within our hearts and souls for some deep cleaning. Winter is still strong enough to provide the comforting arms for this work. Nature’s distractions do not call too loudly to our hibernating souls quite yet. There is just enough light to give us the hope to motivate a little work both inside the soul and out. Spring cleaning, clearing the dust and cobwebs from our bodies, minds, and spirits, shaking off debris, both within us, and within our homes. Deep cleaning and clearing our environments is symbolic of deep spiritual work. Nature has provided the perfect setting for our work, keeping in tune with the seasons. Putting in the work now prepares us for the seasons coming, planting, clearing outside on the homestead, barn work, yard work, garden preparations, new births of animals. Let us be strong and ready both inside and out. As snow begins to melt, let us melt the ice around our hearts and begin to wake up our souls by shaking off the dust that has accumulated in preparation for receiving the Joyful Gift of Easter, of Spring. Let’s take a look at some household chores and what they can symbolize within our hearts and souls.
HouseWork for the Soul
Throw open the windows of your home, open wide the soul windows, let the light shine in. Feel the breath of life on cool spring breezes, softly breathing new life into your home and heart.
Take down the curtains, shake off the accumulated dust, take down the drapery around the heart, shake off the life dust that has accumulated, and throw them open wide to love.
Window washing, scrubbing away film and spots that have colored or blurred the way we see the world. Begin to see with new eyes, scrubbed clean, clear eyes to see the brilliant sunshine blessings in the ordinary. The crisp, clear, rainbow colored blessings wait for us to awaken, to open our eyes, to truly see.
Clear the cobwebs. Dust the cobwebs from ceilings and corners in preparation to wash them new. Shake loose, brush off the cobwebs of your heart. Those little heavy strings of past that darken corners, hanging heavy on hearts. Sweep them away.
Wash the walls of each room using a freshening natural cleaner. Let the water suds away soot, dirt, and dust. Prepare them for resurrection, to bring life anew. There is something about washing walls that just makes a person feel renewed. Go through the rooms of your heart, look around, wash away what needs washing. Let it go into the suds. Scrub your heart sparkling clean with the soft-bristled brush of love, emptied of life weary dust, cobwebs of past, cut through anything that holds your heart in bondage, it’s time for new beginnings, time for a fresh spring start.
Scrub floors. Get down on your hands and knees, suds and all, and scrub it clean. Really get in there and do the work. The shine, scrubbed clean sparkle is the reward, it feels so good in the end. Surrender what needs surrendering to the bucket of suds. Let the scrub brush of God bring forth the shine. Give it all up, let it be gently washed in soft water, gentle soap-bubble blessing. He will give us the polish, sparkle and shine through our souls that we desire. Let it be His light that shines through the windows of the soul, gently refracting through the cracks to create a prism of glorious light to shine out coloring the world stained glass beautiful. Let go and let God Shine.
Clear Clutter. Begin with the basement. Go bravely down those stairs, throw on all the lights, and take a good look around. Breathe deeply, sometimes it is the basement that gets all that we do not know what to do with. Begin to make some decisions. Is there anything that is ready to move on? Are you done with it, ready to either donate it, or is said item trash? Can it be repurposed for another use around the home, or homestead? Go from room to room, gathering up into boxes or bags those things that you no longer need or use. Decide whether it needs donating, recycling or repurposing, or move it to the garbage. Move it through as efficiently as possible. Create a system, perhaps creating piles, one each, for donation, repurposing, and garbage, or choose to organize with totes or boxes to make it easy to move out. Find what works for you, and move it on out. Do the same in the basement of your soul. Take a good, long with all the lights on, look into your heart. Often there are things that we put away, stored, for later. Sometimes it comes to realization upon looking with illumination, that we no longer need to hold onto it. It is then time to clear it out of our soul basement. Bring it out into the light, give it away, or put it in the trash, it’s time for new beginnings. Spring is coming. Letting go, cleaning and clearing out the past allows us to fully live in the present. Opening to joy-fully living, open to seeing with new eyes the blessed gift that comes with each sunrise, the divine gift of life. So do not be afraid, look bravely with loving illumination on those things in your past that are still tying you down, holding in heavy bondage wings of the heart, keeping you from flying free. Begin to gently cut the cords, with love and compassion. With gentle hands open, take up the knife of the GodHeart, and begin to free your own. Remembering sweetly that we are not the bound to the history that we have lived, but rather like the sun we can rise brightly illuminating each tomorrow. Once you have cleared away the clutter, you create space for the shine. Dust, sweep, vacuum, and organize any items left in the basement. Wash windows and walls, scrub floors if possible. This deep cleaning of the deep spaces within or homes and hearts creates room for more joy, for more blessings, for if we are not filled with clutter we have space wide open to fill with sparkling light illuminating Grace. Even in the sometimes poorly lit, dark spaces. So throw back the curtains, and let the sun shine in!
Once each space of home and heart is cleared and cleaned, we can step back and appreciate with Great Love the process. Opening to Grace requires a willing spirit to dig in, and do the work, allow the gentle scrubbing away layers of dirt and debris, a thankful heart ready to see and appreciate all that we have lived and learned through the lens of loving kindness and gentle compassion. The story of Easter, the story of the greatest love of all, guides us to the love we need to gently shine upon our own hearts, to allow space for healing there must be Great Love. Great Love is a gift and we the recipients must be open, hearts and hands ready to receive. The gift of divine love wrapped up in the Easter Story. The symbolic cleaning of our homes, gives an outline, a guide, if you will, for the cleaning process of our souls. Though the process calls us to venture with bravery, into basements, closets, and shadowy places seldom reached back into darkness, the results create newly illuminated spaces brightly glowing, pregnant with possibility, beginning anew, just as creation cycles into new birth, new life, new beginning, our hearts must also cycle to begin anew. Hearts turning round cyclic, ready, sparkling joy buds anew, slowly unfurling from closed bud to petals swelling open, love blooming forth into Grace, joyful spring bursting, soul blessed.
wendy snobl 