Spring Cleaning

Welcome to spring time. The season of allergies taking over, dirty snow piles in every parking lot, and the weather is greatly  unpredictable. If you couldn’t guess, Spring is not my favorite season. Those transitional weeks between winter and summer are just that: transitional. It’s not quite into summer dresses, but also not winter sweaters either. 

Transitions can be challenging, but they also bring new growth. 

Just like in the Spring time, a phase of growth, my faith goes through transition seasons as well. Fear will lie to me. Fear plants weeds of doubt in my mind. “You’ll always be stuck in this challenge.” I hear in my head at work. “This hard decision will eat at you and never go away.” I think as my husband and I try to plan for the future. “You’re not a good enough of a friend/ sister/ or daughter.” I lay awake at night with doubts. These are weeds rooted in the lies of the devil, and it is time for some Spring cleaning! 

Grab your gardening tools, it’s time to pull up some weeds. 

I am reminded of the transitional phase of Nehemiah’s life in the Bible. Nehemiah is probably most noted for wanting to rebuild the walls of a city called Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a beautiful place with plenty of resources and proud of the city it had become. Tragically, Jerusalem had been attacked, left in ruins, and the people were exiled. The once iconic walls surrounding the city were destroyed and Jerusalem was left vulnerable. Now Nehemiah himself did not live in Jerusalem, but he had family there who were some of the many who died in the attack. Nehemiah’s reaction to this awful news is in chapter 1, verse 4, “When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.” He continues to mourn over the loss of the city, his family, and his friends. The Bible is also clear to say that he prays for several months. Nehemiah’s first reaction is not to fertilize the weeds of fear, anger, or doubt but to PRAY and seek the Lord for answers. 

At the time, Nehemiah worked as a cup-bearer for the king of Persia. He was serving wine to the king one day and couldn’t hide the concern he was feeling. The king noticed how Nehemiah was acting and asked him what was wrong. Nehemiah says, “Long live the king! And why shouldn’t I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders?””

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭2:2-3‬ ‭Then the king is like, “What can be done about this?” and Nehemiah has a plan. A plan that he knows aligns with the will of God and not the weeds of worry and doubt. Nehemiah’s plan is to go to Judah and start the rebuilding process on the walls around Jerusalem. This is a huge transition for Nehemiah! He has a good job in the palace of Persia, but after praying for months about what to do, he moves to another city and pursued an impossible task: rebuilding a wall around an entire city. The king is in favor of this plan and writes letters to other cities asking for any lumber, supplies, stones, and workers on behalf of Nehemiah. This tragic event has grown blessings in disguise. 

Transitions can be challenging, but they also bring new growth.

Again, I am struck by the amount of strength in Nehemiah’s faith! If it were me, I probably would have fed into the fears of: what now? How can we stay safe without any walls protecting us? And that would only produce more and more weeds in the garden of my head. Nehemiah cleaned out anything that wasn’t from God and threw it in the trash. Just like when the Spring cleaning mood kicks in: weed out what you don’t need or want and keep the useful things. 

I love this analogy and the story of Nehemiah’s transformative transition in his life.  His “spring cleaning” happened when he was relying on God for direction and answers. If that hard time hadn’t taken place in his life, maybe his faith wouldn’t have been as strong as it was. Nehemiah’s whole life got hit with challenging transitions: from jobs, family passing away, moving, and rebuilding a wall by hand. If he had added to the fear and panic of chaos instead of seeking the Lord, he wouldn’t have been blessed in his transition, he would have been stuck in it.

I often seem stuck in a season of transition, somewhere between “winter” and “summer”. I forget how important that transition is between the season truly is. Spring is where all the GROWTH takes place. Spring is where the old season melts away, preparing for the new to sprout. The ground is no longer frozen, but made ready for the growth that is to come.

Even though I am not a huge fan of the mud puddles and the runny noses that come with Spring time, I am starting to see the beauty in the transitions. 

Questions: 

What life transition are you in right now? Do you feel stuck? Or do you start to feel the Lord nudging you to count on Him?

What could you say to someone else who seems to be stuck in a challenging transition?