Spring is here. It’s my second favorite season. If you’re curious, I rank them as follows:
Autumn (Fall)
Spring
Winter
Summer
I won’t offer an explanation 🙂
Every time we begin to experience weather changes, my mental wheels begin to whir. If you can’t tell, just read my previous post, A Change in the Weather.
Why Spring is exciting for me is because it is a season where things that once appeared dormant begin to reveal new life. I use the word new because that is exactly what we get. Those flowers that blossomed last spring are long gone. Now, it’s time for something brand new.
When I watch old television shows and see them yank their curtains open to allow sun rays to fill the room, you would sometimes see a flurry of dust. Thinking of my own home, which is where three furries abide, I’ve been caught off guard when the sun beams across my floor to reveal a puddle of pet fur that is on the fast track to becoming a rug!
The joy of cleaning house is something I experience not only during the spring. Yet, spring cleaning is so rewarding. After hunkering down and doing everything just short of hibernation during the winter, it really becomes time to open up those window blinds and shades and let the sunlight in. That’s when you begin to observe the newness waiting outside your cave.
Spring cleaning is something that we should also embody for our spiritual lives. The past few weeks have been emotionally challenging for me. As I was praying this week, I began to name some of the different emotions I’ve been feeling. In doing so, I recognized that they were all negative emotions. It’s hard to sit with feelings like that, yet, that’s what I’ve been doing.
Naming my emotions is literally like putting a face to a name. I don’t know about your experience with this, but I find that when I get to meet someone that I previously only spoke to on the phone, they never look how I envisioned they would. Emotions are the same way. Sure. You’ve heard about happiness. But it’s different when you experience it for yourself. There are innumerable negative emotions. Anger, sadness, fear, anxiety, doubt, rejection, loneliness, just to name a few. Sitting with emotions like that can be overpowering. It can take a toll on you both physically and mentally.
Here’s why “spring cleaning” is of value, not just for my physical home, but for my mind, body, and spirit as well. I recently had a dream that some water I wanted to use became contaminated. I can’t wash dirty clothes in dirty water. The result would be of no value. They’d still be dirty, right? Ignorance is not a magic wand that makes our issues go away. Ignoring the problem will only make it worse. That’s the same way we have to treat our whole self.
Ignoring anger only gives it more time to slow boil over. I am certainly not suggesting that we operate in whatever that emotion may be. Instead, I do believe that taking the time out to identify the root of it is key. Suppressing certain emotions is like treating a symptom. What we actually need to do is identify the cause of the symptom that way the treatment plan is more beneficial and long lasting.
So, in short. I’m still identifying roots of some of the negativity I’ve mentally struggled with the past few weeks. However, what I’m learning is that suppressing and ignoring those feelings is not what helps. Even in my time of prayer, I have to be honest with God and I have to be honest with myself if I truly want to experience the freedom that He can provide.
With spring comes the new. But we can also experience something unexpected. There might be a few frigid days clinging to us or we might be blessed with a massive amount of sunshine. Either way, let’s move forward in our spring season together breaking free of some of these emotional strongholds.
Stay Sunny!
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