Spring Cleaning

I have felt the need to clean, deeply, in many areas of my life of late. This week that manifested itself in a purge of my closet. I took everything out of that closet and laid it out in the living room where I could see it. I like clothes, it was a huge and daunting mess. Nobody could move in our living area and I had so many things to do that I was not getting this big task done in a timely manner. Enter Kate. I love Kate. Kate is my angel. Kate saved me. She rode in, on her white horse (in the form of a powder blue minivan) and hugged me and kissed my cheek and then scolded me and we went to work. We sorted and filled trash bags for charity and we talked and we hummed and we sang and we giggled and we had long stretches of companionable silence as we folded and I was not alone. And we made of my closet a masterpiece. But Kate was not done. Kate stayed with me and brought order to a number of dark corners in my home. I sit here tonight in a home that is not perfect, but it is better and I feel Kate here and I am not alone. I sit here, in this peace and study the scriptures and was drawn to the word "clean". I quickly found something intriguing. We are instructed to make ourselves clean, as clean as we are able, but it will not be enough. In order to truly be clean, we must be cleansed. We cannot cleanse ourselves. We cannot do it alone. Only God can cleanse. So, we start the cleaning projects and often get into a huge mess, one that we want to finish, but it is just too daunting. And then, when we are ready to just walk away or accept having to live with the clutter, disorder or even filth, we so often find that we are not alone. He who can cleanse, in whatever form He takes for you, is suddenly there and He is sorting and talking and scolding and carrying and moving with us in companionable silence and before we know it, the pain is past and we see order and peace. Thank you Kate for being an instrument and an angel and for allowing me the peace that I needed to study and find that I will never be alone and that all of the cleanliness that I desire is available to me if I will but begin the cleaning process.