How to Spring Clean Your Heart

What motivates you to spring clean and declutter your home? Have you considered doing the same with your heart?

Warm weather makes me so happy. I love sunshine and blue skies. It motivates me to get moving, clear clutter, and deep clean some of the neglected areas of my home. There is something so satisfying about fresh air flowing through my house to revive it. It makes me want to simplify an already complicated life. The more clutter I keep, the more time I spend cleaning.

This year I’m adding to my spring cleaning list, though. Have you ever considered taking inventory of your heart and some of the things you’ve allowed to slip in that may be robbing you of your full potential in Christ? Or what may be bringing you unrest or weighing you down?

There are parts of my heart where I’ve allowed the cobwebs to linger because I’ve neglected them. I’ve allowed some clutter in that I thought would be ok but in fact are only taking up precious space {focus, time and energy} in my heart. Space that I would rather spend focused on Jesus.

So what does it look like to spring clean your heart?

Heart Clutter to Consider Clearing

There are a few things, personally, I need to reign in or declutter altogether. My list may look different from yours since we are all dealing with various heart clutter. But after the long, dark season I’ve been in and some of the ways I’ve dealt with that season, it’s time to do some heart decluttering so Jesus can be more easily seen and heard.

Television

It’s not the type of media I’m letting in so much as the sheer amount of it. Nothing wrong with a little tv entertainment, but when it’s pushing out time with God or consuming more of my thoughts and conversations than God is, it’s time to re-evaluate.

Screen Time

This isn’t even including tv time, but just time staring at my phone screen. I can’t believe how easy it is and honestly, I don’t like it.  It feels odd if my phone is in another room when I try to go pick it up and I don’t like that. I need to spend more time in the moment, meditating on God’s word, or praying for people in my circle I know need prayer. I’ve allowed my phone to rob me of too much and it needs to be reigned in.

Anger and Bitterness

To be honest, this is something I’ve been working on purging the last 6 months or so. But because of the type of personality I have (peacemaker), it needs to continue to be a regular occurrence. I never actually thought of myself as an angry or bitter person, but I was only deceiving myself (or was in denial).

My anger and bitterness gets pushed down and buried. I’ve put it in a place out of sight for people to see [mostly], but God sees. What goes beyond hiding it is that it’s like an untreated infection inside my soul. It eats away at my spirit and will sometimes come out in undercutting ways.

Busyness

There are so many things that lead to becoming overly busy. I’ve learned only in the last year that it’s okay [and necessary] to set up boundaries for myself.

There are some hard things I’ve learned to say “no” to, yet there are still more things that need to be removed. It’s one of those things you just know aren’t filling your spirit the way they should and end up being more draining than they are good.

I want to say yes to relationships {and the activities they entail} more and no to extracurricular activities that really carry no substance to them or offer a valuable return. This is hard because the world would tell us our kids need to be involved in all the things, but they don’t.

I think every now and then it’s great to get involved in something, but to be constantly tied down by an activity can truly be life-sucking for everyone.

Breathe a Little Easier

I think as I get older, I’m beginning to appreciate the white space more. I used to think that if I wasn’t filling every ounce of my time with something, then I was “eating the bread of idleness” or I was lazy.

Clearing my heart of unnecessary (and even harmful) clutter and my time of too much busy allows me to breathe a little easier. It gives me an opportunity to pause to appreciate Jesus more.

We don’t realize we are pushing Jesus right out of our hearts when we allow too much other stuff in. There is only so much space that can be occupied. The more we fill it with other things, the easier it is to bump Jesus right out and not even realize it.

I picture a bench full of baseball players. Kids begin sitting down and squeezing in until the poor kid on the end gets bumped right off. And no one even notices. That’s how I think it happens with our hearts when we fill them with too much stuff.

Let’s take some time this spring to clean out those things that are robbing us of time from Jesus. Clear out what God wants to purge and free us from so we can walk in peace.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to walking a little lighter.

For His Glory,

Christin Slade
ChristinSlade.com