Messy Redos

We are in the midst of redoing parts of our kitchen—and what a mess! Now in our third week, we can hardly wait to get everything emptied out of the kitchen cabinets back where it belongs.  Our living and dining rooms are full of dishes, glasses, pots and pans, and cleaning supplies.  Sheets of plastic hang from the ceiling around the kitchen to protect the rest of the house. Despite the best efforts of the workmen, however, there is a layer of dust on everything, and the smell of paint is giving my husband a daily headache.

Why deliberately make such a mess? Fixing problems brought on by time often requires making things seem worse before they get better.

My heart is similar to my kitchen.

Untangling Life's Knotty Messes

Last night I discovered that the yarn on one edge of my throw blanket was knotted together. The individual pieces were tangled instead of loosely hanging as designed. The other side was completely free from problems, but this one was a mess. Some strands were easily pulled out, but more often so many were intertwined that I could only loosen one to get to another. I spent more than an hour freeing the yarn from interwoven knots.

Isn’t life often the same way? We attempt to deal with a problem and find that it involves a whole knot of issues. Far too often we implement easy answers that don’t work because the difficulty is too complex.

Cleansing the Soul and the Spring Equinox

Monday’s Dallas Morning News’ contained an article “Clearing the Air for Spring.” The accompanying photograph featured a woman from the Jung Society inhaling smoke while saying a cleansing and smoke prayer, described as a way to cleanse the soul. How can smoke purify something intangible and eternal?

Historically, the equinox has been associated with pagan rituals and nature worship. Instead, we might use it as a time to adore the Creator by cleaning our souls as an act of worship, particularly if we don’t do so for Lent.

The rebirth of nature reminds us of the resurrection of Christ, who died and returned to life by the power of God’s Spirit. We, too, share in his resurrection—now as we live a new life, dead to our old selves, and at Jesus’ return when our bodies will be raised. “By his great mercy he gave us new birth through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3b).

As people who have risen from death to new life, let’s do some soul-cleansing, knowing that only God can wash us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. 1 John 1:9: “But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.”

Here are some questions that allow God access to areas in my life which may need cleansing. (There are too many to put them all!)