Today we have a post from our sweet contributor Rebekah:

We are now nearing the end of spring for a lot of folks, which means many homemakers have been busy the past couple months with spring cleaning of all sorts – washing windows and scrubbing baseboards, organizing piles of belongings and sorting what to keep and what not to keep, and perhaps even going so far as to completely revamp and change their current decorating motif. All of this is definitely important work (and things I need to tend to a bit more myself!), but what is perhaps most important and more often overlooked than the practice of spring cleaning our homes is the concept of spring cleaning our souls. 

You see, decorating, cleaning, and organizing our homes are all well, fine, and good endeavors. But if we are not about the work of tending to our souls first and foremost, then it will not matter how beautiful or spotless  or how well put together our homes may be – we will still be easily guilty of tearing them down with our own hands.

In Proverbs 14:1, we read that the wise woman builds her home, while the foolish woman tears hers down. The only way we will ever become wise women who successfully build up our homes in every sense of the word is if we are first tending to the condition of our souls (remember Proverbs 4:23?). If we are first being careful to spend time communing with God on a daily basis through prayer and Bible reading. If we are first being careful to sift out any sin which may have been lately taking root in our hearts and lives. 

So, today, I want to encourage you to join me in doing a spring cleaning of a different sort!

Spring Cleaning for the Soul

Here are a couple questions to ponder that will help get you started!

• Just as winter brought with it a coldness of temperature, has there been a coldness in my heart towards someone in my life which I need to repent of and let go?

• Just as a dustiness may have settled into our homes over the long winter months, is there a dustiness of sorts in my heart? Perhaps entertainment I’ve been allowing into my life that is soiling my thoughts or actions? Or a busyness and vain toiling that is keeping me from daily being refreshed in God’s Word and through prayer?

• Just as an aspect of my spring cleaning may have been a sorting through and getting rid of excess clutter around my home, are there areas in which my soul has been cluttered? If so, what should I do to address the issue? Has my daily life been cluttered with unimportant busy work, mindless extra to-dos, or expectations of man, and not of God, that I am trying to meet and currently feel myself being weighed down by? How can I seek the Lord’s wisdom today as to a right understanding and ordering of my true priorities?

• Just as I may have been organizing various areas of my home this spring, how might I better organize my daily schedule so as to allow more room for time in God’s Word and prayer, play time with my children, the pursuit of hobbies, more time outside going on grand adventures as a family, etc.?

I hope these questions to mull over prove helpful in equipping you to do a bit of spring cleaning in your soul today. If you take the time to reflect over the current state of your heart, mind, and soul this spring, I believe you will be encouraged by the fact of just what a positive impact such a pursuit will have on the overall atmosphere and productivity of your home and family! In fact, it may even surprise you just what a big and lasting difference it makes for you this spring and on into the rest of this year.

God bless you and Happy Spring Cleaning!

REBEKAH HARGRAVES IS A WIFE, MAMA OF TWO LITTLES, HOME BUSINESS OWNER, PODCASTER, AND BLOGGER RESIDING IN TN. HER PASSION IS TO BLESS FELLOW CHRISTIAN WOMEN THROUGH HER WRITINGS ON HER WEBSITE, HARGRAVES HOME AND HEARTH, WHICH EXISTS TO EDIFY, EQUIP, AND ENCOURAGE WOMEN IN THEIR JOURNEY OF BIBLICAL WOMANHOOD.

Website – Hargraves Home and Hearth

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