Power-Washer Services Offered Here
I think I get my frugal and prudent spending habits and mindset from parents who were products of the Great Depression when every penny counted. My Mom would sing out “Shut off the lights! Turn up the air conditioner!” And, in the winter, “Turn down the heat and put on a sweater!”
Here I am, in the 21st Century and I am her. In the winter, I keep my heat at 65 degrees at night and push it up only a few degrees in the day time and I wear a sweater. I am so conscious of the electric bill that I often shut lights off so much that I have to cautiously maneuver my way through the house to get to the next room.
I’m going somewhere with my history and economics lesson. We are in the Lenten season (the 40 days moving toward Easter Sunday) — Hallelujah! Up from the grave He arose! And, our interior check-up requires turning on the lights, brighter than ever inside the rooms of our hearts, to search out areas that still need to have a power wash. I’m thinking of my daughter who has a love for power washing — getting grit and grime off of the house and paved areas. This photo is of my daughter and granddaughter giving me one of my annual Mother’s Day gifts — power washing my screened-in patio. Squeaky clean afterwards!
This “pilgrimage” (a journey to a place associated with someone or something well known or respected) toward the grandest celebration of our Christian faith, Resurrection Sunday, is a time of becoming the best version-of-ourselves. But it doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through an exciting collaboration between us and God.
Psalm 139:23-24 says: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Here’s the deal: Inside our hearts, over time, some less-than-ideal habits show up. Habits like crankiness, unforgiveness, complaining, worry, unbelief, fault-finding, and other areas that need to be power-washed out!
The Bible illuminates (lights up) those areas. Brace yourself, I’m lighting up this scripture and, yikes, it packs a punch: “From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mark 7:21-23)
Lord, have mercy! And, bring on the high beams! I don’t like those “evils” because they all represent darkness and I sure don’t want them in my heart or my life. Psalm 119:105 says “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Placing the Bible (the lamp) at the center of our lives is like walking through the house turning on lights. “Ahh, that’s better. Yes, that’s brighter.” I love how The Message Bible paraphrases that scripture: “By your words, I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.” Exactly so. The light of His Word keeps us from stumbling and helps us find our way.
This pilgrimage aka Lenten season can be the most freeing time of cleaning-up-and-out all those dark places in our hearts. Lord, bring in your cleaning crew with their power washers and clean out all the crevices, corners and hiding places and make my life fresh and new so I will be more like you!
“Change my heart oh God. Make it ever true. Change my heart oh God. May I be like You.”