Welcome to Motivational Mondays!
First things first, what is Motivational Mondays?
Just like it sounds, to motivate, to empower, and to encourage you on the first day of a fresh week. I don't know about you but Mondays can be a drag for me, so sometimes words of encouragement and positivity are helpful to start my day off right.
Motivational Monday's topic is:
Spring Cleaning
And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
Luke 11:25
It's springtime, and I thought this would be a great time to talk about the importance of spring cleaning. Spring Cleaning is not only a physical thing but it's also spiritual as well. The definition of spring cleaning is the act of purposefully and thoroughly cleaning or cleansing a place. Let's dive in.
How often do you spring clean?
Do you only clean the physical?
Physical Spring Cleaning
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 12:33-34
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
Part of physically spring cleaning your house is getting rid of or purging the things from your home that you no longer need or use. I don't know about you, but I have been guilty of holding onto things that no longer serve me. God tells us in the bible not to store material things here on earth because these material items are temporary and cannot be taken with us into the next phase of our lives. Temporary items can become destroyed, broken, withered away, and stolen. They will only serve us for a short time. When we don't take the time to clear out the old stuff it begins to create clutter. Clutter is defined as a collection of stuff lying around in an untidy mass. Clutter can be physically distracting and can get in the way of new blessings. Let’s take a look at how to physically declutter your space.
Donate/Sell/Throw Out
Depending on what you have lying around your house you are sure to find things that can either be donated, sold, or just thrown away. Think about all of those clothes and shoes that are in the back of your closet that you haven’t touched in years. They have either grown too big, too small, or out of style. Instead of holding on to them, donate them to a cause to help those who are less fortunate. There are homeless shelters, Goodwill’s, clothing drives, churches, outreach programs, and so on that are willing to take these items off of your hands.
You may be the type of person that has a lot of knick-knacks around the house or other random things like dishes, or furniture. Many people will be willing to buy these things off of your hands especially if they are in good condition. This is the perfect time to bring everything out, set up a table, and have a yard sale. Everything that doesn’t get bought you can either throw it out or donate it to a charity or a shelter that will take it. This helps to eliminate the clutter, clear up space, and give back to the community.
Then there will be times where you come across items that are cluttering your home that cannot be donated or sold. In these cases, it is best to just let it go and throw it away.
Spiritual Spring Cleaning
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Spiritual spring cleaning is much like the physical whereas the only difference is we are cleansing our minds, bodies, and spirits. Like we talked about in Your Body Is An Investment, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit that resides within us. Our bodies were not loaned to us for us to destroy but rather to use for the will and purpose of God. The more that we allow clutter to build within us the more that it harms our inner temple. We have to take care of what we have been given and this includes cleaning it and maintaining it on a regular basis. When we are cluttered spiritually it can leave us feeling anxious, give us insomnia, and impair our ability to focus. We can become less productive and even trigger us to begin avoiding our responsibilities. In order to serve God, we have to be Spiritually Fit. We can’t give God our all and we are distracted, not well-rested, or feeling anxious. God needs us on our A-game, in the best shape that we can be. Let’s dive in and talk about how to spiritually spring clean and declutter.
Renew Your Mind/Spirit
It is so important to renew your mind and spirit on a daily basis. This is one thing that each and every one of us should be doing every day. It is so easy for our minds to be overrun with unnecessary junk. Think about what you watch on television, what you view on social media, listen to on the radio, and so on. All of which can lead to sin if not careful. Remember that the flesh is very impressionable and will fall for anything that seems good. To combat this you have to unplug from the outside world, put on the whole armor of God, and pray. Each morning before your feet touches the floor pray that God guides your footsteps, protects you from the adversary and anything else that is meant to harm you. Prayer is such a powerful thing especially when you have the Active Faith to match it. Believe and know without a doubt that God will hear your prayer and he will answer. When you renew your mind and spirit you are working from a clean slate making room for God and his will.
It is important to remember that Forgiveness is Key. One of the most important steps to decluttering yourself spiritually is through forgiveness. Each time that you hold a grudge against someone or you refuse to let go and let God all you are doing is creating more stuff that will block you from your blessings. It will cloud your judgment and cause you to act in ways that God would not approve of. The bible tells us that we should seek peace with each other at all times whenever and wherever possible. No matter what! If God and Jesus can do it then so can we!
Don’t hold on to old habits or people that are no longer positive for you. This is and will probably be the hardest of them all, aside from forgiveness, because it means that we will have to let go of what we find comfortable. What is comfortable is not always what God has planned. Comfort can clutter you in ways that will make it harder for your blessing to come in. There will be times in life where you will have to let go of certain friends, or family members because they are creating junk and hindering you from doing what God has called you to be. Some may wonder why we can’t ever move forward in life and why we are stuck in the same cycle, and it is because we are steadily holding on to what God has been trying to pull us out of for years now. I don’t know who needs to hear this but it is time to let it GO! That job that you want, that new house, car, promotion, the next phase, those goals, that vision, all of it is within your reach but you have to release the baggage that is weighing you down first. Get rid of the junk and watch things become clearer for you.
Have you Completed your Spring Cleaning?
**I hope everyone has a safe and blessed week and I will see you all on Saturday for our Weekly Topic Saturdays**
~Just Breathe...A Golden Dream~
Amen.