Spring Cleaning <3

We are having a touch of long-awaited Spring here and it is most welcome. 

I stubbornly refused to put a winter coat on when I left for work yesterday. I didn’t care what the temperature was or if snow would fly. 

I slipped my feet in some loafers with no socks, donned a lightweight denim duster and headed out. 

To my great delight, my faith became sight and it was 50 degrees by afternoon here. 

The sun was shining, which meant all the dust on all the surfaces was showing off through the sunlight that streamed through winter crusted windows so I did what all good Midwestern girls do on such a day and spent the late afternoon cutting back the roses and pulling all the debris from last summer and fall out of the landscape rock. 

It felt so good. 

With the advantage of an extra hour of daylight, Russ and I were able to take a walk together and eat soup as the sun set. 

I love that Lent and Passover and Easter all fall in this time of year and while I understand if I lived south of the equator it would be a different natural season in which to experience, God put me here and I am thankful to associate this time of year with the rhythm of new life and spring cleaning. 

It makes sense to me as I shake off the debris of dust and prepare our yard for new growth, that I am doing the same thing with my soul.

Opening up my heart and asking God to shine a spot light into the corners opens my mind to a greater awareness of Him and a greater awareness of Him, opens my spirit to seek more of His holiness and purity as He helps me do some internal housecleaning. 

This morning as I presented myself to Him and worked through some of my study materials, I found these words from Valley of Vision:

Teach me to behold my Creator, his ability to save, his arms outstretched, his heart big for me. May I confide in his power and love, commit my soul to him without reserve, bear his image, observe his laws, pursue his service and be through time and eternity a monument to the efficacy of his grace, a trophy of his victory. 

Page 67, The Convicting Spirit; The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, The Banner of truth trust, 1975

Isn’t that beautiful? 

Picture Him – his ability and willingness to stretch out His arms and save us. 

Picture us – trusting in His power and love and big heart; committing our souls, without reservation, and thus bearing His image…being obedient to His commandments and teachings…actively pursuing ways we are called to serve Him. 

And then…say what???

What is efficacy?

How do I even say it?

So I googled it – you would expect nothing less of me, right?

I am still working on the pronunciation and have decided this may never be a word in my working vocabulary, but it means…

the power to produce and effect, or effectiveness; the ability to produce a desired or intended result.

Let’s plug that back in to the prayer I shared.

Oh wait…before I do…let’s stop and think about monuments. And how we build them to commemorate some big, historical event or to give credit to some great person who made an impact on the history of a culture or country or time.

Let’s think about trophies that we get handed or we long to have handed to us for our efforts or our wins.

Ok. 

Now let’s take a fresh look at the words that moved my heart this morning:

Lord, teach me see You more clearly and assess your Worth more dearly each day so that I might walk uprightly before You and serve You faithfully in obedience to the truth of Your Word.

As a result of this, I pray that the proof of the effect of my life lived out in the days You have given me will stand as a Mount Rushmore of evidence that YOUR GRACE reached out and saved the likes of me.

May my life, Lord, be a visible Super Bowl/World Cup/Green Jacket trophy of proof that You overcame sin and death in me and for me.

May all that I do and all that I say and all that I am and all that I am remembered for point always and only to You. 

God didn’t save me so that I could build monuments or collect trophies.

He saved me to make me a monument attesting to His grace and a trophy of His love.

And so I echo the words of King David…who am I and who is my family that You would do this for us?

Have a blessed day reflecting on His big heart for you…clean some windows…clear some brush and I will see you back here tomorrow <3