Let’s spring-clean our lives

Spring is in the air. It is now the transition period between winter and summer. Springtime is also commonly associated with the idea of new growth and renewal. It’s where we get the notion of the “spring clean”. During spring we get rid of the old and dirty and make our places new and clean again.

Spring is a wonderful opportunity to make ourselves new again; to set ourselves on a new path again, in all the aspects of our lives (much like Lent, which in the northern hemisphere coincides with spring).

We can make ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally new again by choosing to let go of the bad old habits we have and replacing them with good new habits. This is easier said than done, but it is of great benefit if we succeed in doing so.

We belong to God. Therefore our bodies, our hearts, our souls and our minds belong to God. It is for God’s sake and for our sake that we renew these parts of ourselves on a regular basis to become new to God and new to ourselves again.

What a liberating thought to know that we do not have to be shackled with old habits—that the opportunities are there all the time to get rid of the old and start afresh with the new.

We are the keepers of the gates of our bodies. Let us feed our bodies as we would feed a child, carefully with what is healthy and good for our bodies. Let us nourish our bodies that they can grow in strength, and let us reject food and drink that can harm our bodies.

Our daily tasks are many and can wear us down, so we need to rest our bodies well at night. The US author Adolfo Quezada once said: “Let us rest at night so that we can co-create with God in the morning.” Let us get into the habit of looking after our bodies.

There are so many memories we hang on to and nurture, and present hurt caused to us by others. We hang on to it, because it gives us some power over that person. We do not want to let that person go free by forgiving them, because then we have no hold over them. Let us free our hearts from these memories and from our plans to take revenge. Let us make our hearts new again.

We all know that regular spiritual practice is important and good for us. Regular spiritual practice centres us and connects us to our deeper self where God lives in us. As with diets and exercise we also struggle to get into a rhythm of regular spiritual practice. Our daily demands of work and family and friends make it difficult for us to stick to a regular routine of spiritual practice during the week.

In the Catholic Church we have a varied menu of spiritual practices to choose from. This makes it easy for us to choose something that we enjoy and can fit into our daily schedule.

Our week starts with meeting Christ in the Eucharist on Sunday which is the highest spiritual practice for us. We can continue during the week with meditations, devotions, praying the rosary, experiencing God in nature, family prayer and praying in our prayer groups. Let us restart the rhythm of our spiritual practice again today.

Our minds take on the nature of their diet. Let us provide our minds with balanced and well-nourished sustenance. Let us engage in life-long learning. Let us become interested in all that God has put out there for us. Let us move out of our comfort zone of what we know and engage with issues of life that bring meaning to ourselves and our communities. Let us read up on what we do not understand. Let us feed our mind with the bread of life.

Read the sacred writings. Read spiritual books slowly and find meaning in them. Let us re-commit to nourish our minds.

The beauty and newness and freshness of spring, can bring beauty and newness and freshness to us.