Spring Cleaning

The past two years it has seemed to happen that we get back from our anniversary trip and find that things have crowded our lives. It's interesting that our anniversary is the first day of Spring. It's kind of like a second New Year's Day for us, a chance to start over. Last year weeds invaded our landscaping beds and yard and we had to come home and attack them. This year it was the clutter inside our house, mostly mail and papers. I woke up this morning really wanting to clean things out and get things in order.

It's interesting too that I've also really felt a need to clean out my heart this week. Last weekend I went on a Women's Retreat with our church and it really impacted my life. Our speaker, Jill Hooper, the wife of one of our pastors at Intown, was incredible. She was so vulnerable about her life and her struggles and how she came to find joy even through pain and suffering. I really feel like I have a renewed sense of purpose and I am finally experiencing real joy like I haven't experienced in a long time. It was such an encouraging weekend for me. I think the thing I walked away with is that it's not about what I need to do differently, but how I need to think differently. It's so simple, but it was so big for me.

It's kind of like taking God with me throughout my day (that sounds cheesy, but I can't think of a better way to put it). One thing Jill said that really impacted me is that Satan's lie to us is that we have to spend an hour or more praying and reading the bible to spend time with God. In reality it's doing what we can to get in the word throughout the day (meditating on one scripture and putting it all through our house or reading just one Psalm a day) and thanking God as we go about our day. It really changes my attitude as I go about doing things that seem insignificant, like emptying the dishwasher. I know God is glorified through everything I do if I do it for him. I want to listen to Jill's talks again and again to really soak it all in because I know God really spoke through her that weekend. They are supposed to be up on Intown's website soon.

The warmer weather this week has been so great too. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Springing forward it so exciting. I love the extra hours of daylight and YIPPEE that starting in 2007 it will be extended to March-November instead of April-October. We are hoping to continue to clean out our house and work on our endless projects...painting and remodeling our downstairs bathroom. Here's to Spring!