It’s Clean-Up, Clean-Out, Clean-In Time!
This may be TMI (too much information) on my personal life, but I had a major clean-out (literally, blow-out) two days ago when I went through a colonoscopy prep for the next day’s colonoscopy. I had put it off longer than I should have. It seemed like such a big deal to me, but when I had my annual check-up with my doctor this year, she was adamant about the prevention of colon cancer and how this procedure can detect and take care of any future issues. Besides – a good CLEAN-OUT is good anyhow because we know that having colon cancer screening is supposed to begin at age 50. I slightly missed that year. ?Honestly the whole process from the prep day to the end of the procedure the next day was far less of a horror story than I thought it would be. To those of you who will be undergoing this procedure for the first time, take heart! The dread is ten times worse than the prep or the procedure will be.
CLEAN is my word of the day: washed, scrubbed, cleansed, pure, clear, fresh, virtuous, good, upright, honest, sober
About this time of year, many of us start to think about “Spring Cleaning”. We accumulate so much clutter (you know those little corners where we stack up mail, flyers and magazines), that we start getting weary from just walking by that corner. We need to CLEAN-UP! Then there’s the closets full of winter wear – boots, coats, gloves, hats – squeezed in so tight you couldn’t get another item in it. We need to CLEAN-OUT! Then there’s the attic that bears our seasonal decorations, old furniture, hunting equipment, years and years of boxes of tax records and more building materials than you could shake a stick at! Okay, I just described our attic just after my Sweetheart graduated to heaven. When I climbed those stairs and looked in the attic, I hollered “RONALD WUERCH, how could you leave without CLEANING OUT this mess?” LOL!
I was on a CLEAN-OUT binge years ago when I realized there were some TV shows that I recorded that weren’t so optimistic and peace-building, so I removed them — those shows that contained immorality, violence, crude language, etc. I’m so glad I did. I even removed those political talk shows that just went on and on in negativity. Proverbs 23:7 says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” I sure didn’t want to be thinking those thoughts.
Most importantly in this CLEANING mission, is my utmost desire to CLEAN-IN. In Galatians 5, St. Paul reminds us of those things that need to be cleaned out of our hearts: hatred, anger, fighting, jealousy, gossiping, complaining, criticizing, selfishness, etc.
Bottom line…..it’s clean up, clean out and clean in time for those of us who sincerely desire that the bandwagon we are on is the one that brings immeasurable blessings, peace and joy.
You know how a fresh, clean house feels? Shouldn’t we desire that fresh, clean house feel, inside AND out? It comes by asking the Master House Cleaner (Holy Spirit) to come more than once a month to clean. We want Him to show up every day to remind us ….Psalm 24:3,4 “Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has CLEAN hands and a pure heart”