Spring Forward

“I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.”

Romans 7:9

As the world around our home begins to blossom, spring cleaning is almost complete. Trees are trimmed and pruned and the house looks better than ever. Our garden is budding and our flowers are releasing a sweet new fragrance in the air. God’s perfume of life and renewal. But now that things are organized, I can’t seem to find anything I need. I’m missing a pair of sunglasses. My car keys are nowhere to be found. And what in the world did I do with the garden hose? Really, explain to me, how does one lose a garden hose?

Were they misplaced or discarded? I ponder as I search high and low, my frustration mounting—along with a touch of hay fever to enhance my distress. Spring cleanup may be necessary, but rarely is it fun, I remind myself. Disregarding my momentary irritation, I think the effort is well worth the drama, because the end results are as pretty as a picture and very pleasant to behold.

Since my baptism, my personal life for the past 25 years has been a spring cleaning. Once we have received our fill of the world, along with the clutter it has to offer, what do we do with it? The joys and the pains, the flowers and the rain, are somewhat like the arrival of spring and hay fever. Sometimes sweet change comes with an irritating price tag. As I look back, my whole life seems to have come wrapped in a big package with a red bow on top. As I lift the cover, inside are treats that are both sweet and bitter. Either way, they are gifts that remain etched in my thoughts and delegated to locations within my permanent memory. Memories that cannot be erased, even if I wanted to. Over time, they have become the foundation of who I am. I just have to neaten it up a bit to make it more presentable to the world. Hence a spring cleaning.

Life has many seasons, and with every seasonal cleanup comes greater wisdom. With greater wisdom come the inevitable regrets. With regrets comes repentance. With repentance comes forgiveness. With forgiveness comes peace. With peace comes happiness. And with happiness comes evangelism and a need to share my unlimited supply of goodwill with others. 

But along the way, like those missing tools from my shelf, some fragments of who I am were lost and need to be found again. Fragments like my self-esteem, self-worth, and the childlike joy I once had. The empathy, the compassion, the simplicity of thought, and the purity of heart—if that’s even possible. If I can’t locate all of them, they will have to be replaced one day, because they are all necessary tools in my intellectual tool shed. Perhaps the whisper I hear is Jesus, like a salesman knocking on my door. What He has to offer, I surely need; so I dare not send Him away. 

As He stands at the door, He’s not offering me the same old items I had before, but newer ones. The gift of a new creation within me. Healing and harmonious thoughts with an Eternal Lifetime Warranty. It’s an offer I cannot refuse, and a free sample of something far more extraordinary— my future.

“Then He spoke a parable to them: ‘No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.’”Luke 5:36

I’m told by this Salesman that the price has already been paid for my missing items; and once I’ve signed on the dotted line, they are shipped express delivery to my personal address. All except one; and that final part won’t arrive until I hear those wonderful and melodious words, “…‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’” Matthew 25:23.

Then my spring cleaning is truly complete and I am given the greatest part of all. A part of Heaven and the gift of eternal life.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20.