Spring cleaning -- for the soul

Reading a post on Rachel's blog made me think of the housecleaning tornado that my mother called "spring cleaning." She and my grandmother, who lived with us, worked for a solid week, often during Holy Week. Furnishings got pulled out from the walls so they could clean behind them; walls got wiped down; baseboards were scrubbed till they shone. All closets got cleaned out. Windows got cleaned, and I often came home from school to find all the venetian blinds (remember them?) swimming around in the bathtub. Those blinds later found themselves out on the clothesline, drying in the spring breeze along with all the winter curtains and bedspreads. In the kitchen, the gas range got a thorough cleaning, as did the fridge.

Oh, my. I need a nap from just writing all this down. Spring cleaning for me is just like any other cleaning -- haphazard and done under duress. I hate clutter, but I find I'm quite tolerant of real dirt! And in the spring ... it's time to play in the garden anyway.

All that dirt will still be there in the fall.

And Lent is speeding by. I am trying to attack the cobwebs in my soul -- those musty corners where I don't like to look very often. Giving up elevators and escalators has made me feel stronger and more fit (all this is relative, you understand), but what I really need are extra spiritual calisthenics for these last weeks before Easter. I must get out the Bible more often. I must try to read Morning Prayer in addition to Evening Prayer.

That will do me more good in the long run than a clean house. Believe me, Mom!

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