For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
1 Timothy 1:7
Last week I talked about spring, about new life being breathed into us, and about making time for the things that make you come alive. This week I want to talk about what happens when we don’t push past old comfort zones and stay stuck in our old limitations.
In keeping with the spring theme, think about what would happen if those little buds didn’t push past their old limitations for new growth? The tree wouldn’t grow. It may even start to die. What would that look like in terms of our faith if we did that?
The story of Jonah comes to mind when I think about this. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh. But Nineveh was not a nice city and Jonah did not want to go. Instead of traveling towards Nineveh, he decided he would travel in the exact opposite direction. You most likely have heard the story—Jonah heads the opposite way, God sends a storm, Jonah tells the crew to throw him overboard to settle the storm, they finally do, the storm calms, and Jonah, upon landing in the water, is swallowed by a big fish where he rocks around inside the fish’s stomach for three days and three nights until the large fish vomits him up on shore. Finding himself alive, Jonah makes his way to Nineveh!
Now I have had things I haven’t wanted to do in this life—things that I have wanted to avoid and run away from. But, as my mother always said, it’s usually much better to just get it over with. I think Jonah would have agreed with my mother in hindsight. Pushing past old limitations and outside of our comfort zones are difficult endeavors. It gets uncomfortable—and I hate being uncomfortable. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came early on in my career when I was told to “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” This is true in our faith as well.
Unfortunately it seems to be one of the laws of this world that growth only comes from being uncomfortable. The first time we boldly witness to a stranger—uncomfortable! The first time we offer to help a stranger—uncomfortable! But what do we feel if we don’t push back our comfort zone when God calls us? My guess is oftentimes we end up like Jonah; crammed into a small uncomfortable space, feeling like we are in the dark, and wishing we would have just done the thing we had worked so desperately to avoid.
I definitely still have times when I shy away from doing something that makes me uncomfortable. I’m sure you do too. My hope is that we can encourage one another in our faith, and ask God to help take some of the scariness out of the unknown and discomfort. Who knows what will come of it—maybe our small actions will one day impact a city, maybe even our city.
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I’ve talked about How To Refresh Your Home’s Decor For Spring of 2022 and I’ve talked about Spring and Easter Vignette Ideas, but what about the infamous spring cleaning that we’ve heard about our grandmothers doing? Is it really necessary to tear our houses apart and give them an in-depth scrubbing from top to bottom every spring?
In short, no. Or at least not as necessary as it was in days gone by. Back in the day when everyone heated with coal, and you could see a cloud of smog hanging over cities, houses needed to be scrubbed to keep the dirt and grime from overtaking the house, but in this day and age, such aggressive cleaning tactics are not needed every spring. However, spring is a great time to look around and tackle at least a few of the in-depth cleaning items that get overlooked (and are often unnecessary) on a weekly or monthly basis.
Walls
Do your walls need scrubbed down every year? If you keep up with wiping off dirty handprints and drips as they appear on the walls then your walls most likely do not need an in-depth scrubbing every spring, except in a few key areas, namely the bathroom. Because of all the condensation that collects in the bathroom and runs down the walls, you will notice that your walls get drip marks on them over time. These drips look are on the yellowish side of the color spectrum and just look gross. But don’t worry—you’re not alone! Most homes have this unless the bathroom is very large or extremely well vented. Take a dampened towel with just a drop of dish soap (not enough for you to even see suds) and wipe it over the walls; this will erase most of these marks, especially if you do this semi-annually or annually.
Pro tip: Lightly wet a mop and in essence mop your walls. This usually is enough pressure to do the trick and is so much faster and easier!
Baseboards:
Speaking of walls, what is at the bottom of the walls that usually misses out on receiving the proper amount of attention? Your baseboards, of course! Take a look at your baseboards. You may need to just take a Swiffer along the top of them, but if your baseboards have marks then you’ll have to get down and wipe them—there’s really no great way to clean them without getting down on your hands and knees. Unfortunately.
Cabinets:
Your kitchen cabinets get dirty, even if they don’t look dirty. Using a lightly wet cloth with just a tiny amount of cleanser on it, wipe all of your cabinets down. Pay special attention to the area around the handles, in front of your sink, by your coffee maker (if you have one), and above your stove and microwave.
Sink:
Speaking of sink, your drain probably needs a good deodorizing! You can buy different options from the store or you can pour about a quarter cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a half cup of vinegar. Let it sit for a few minutes and then run hot water for a couple minutes to rinse.
Pro Tip: To make your drain smell good, add a little bit of lemon or lime rind to your garbage disposal and then run your disposal.
Coffee Maker:
Most water, even city water, has minerals that can and will build up in your coffee maker over time. Most brands have their own brand of descaler that can be run through your coffee maker to remove this build up. If you want another at-home solution, use a 50/50 water and vinegar solution as your descaler (check your coffee maker manual to make sure this is an approved option—in most cases it is). If your coffee maker has a clean function, run it on a clean cycle; if not, do a regular brew cycle, followed in both cases by two brew cycles of just water. This will prolong the life of your coffee maker!
Washing Machine:
Washing machines need cleaning too! Again, most manufacturers and other companies have specialty cleansers you can buy, or you can revert to our old standby—vinegar and baking soda. I like to spray down the inside of my machine with a 50/50 vinegar and water mix, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and then come back and wipe down the inside and around the plastic seal. Next, add vinegar (2 cups to a front loading washer, 4 cups for a drum washer) and run a cycle on the hottest and highest setting, followed by running an additional empty load cycle with ½ cup of baking soda, again on the highest and hottest setting, followed by a rinse cycle of just pure water. Check with the manufacturer or your washing machines manual to make sure this is an approved option—in just about every case it is.
Upholstery
If you have pets or little kids, your upholstery needs cleaned! You’ll be shocked at how much additional hair and debris you will extract from your carpets! Vacuum first, then clean with a home-grade carpet cleaner. This applies also to chairs and couches. If your couch has removable cushion covers, these can be washed in the machine but be sure to check to see if they can be dried in a machine or if they need to be air dried. Regardless, when they are about 80/90% dry, put them back on your cushion. This is not something to do when you have guests coming over in the evening!
Air Vents
Air vents collect dust on the outside and the inside. Clean the outside with a Swiffer or a soft brush vacuum attachment. If there is a gray residue left, wipe with a damp cloth. If you have vents that sit in the floor, it is worth taking the cover off and vacuuming the inside and the outside of the vent—whatever is down there is filtering into your air. I realized it was time to clean the floor vent in my dining room after the third person commented on the dozen or so hair bands that my cat had dropped down it!
Air Filters:
Air filters get dirty and when they do they don’t work well, they could even allow dirt to be filtering into your air! Most manufacturers recommend changing your air filters every 90 days, so if it’s been 6 months or a year you are most definitely due!
I hope this helps to shed some light on some often overlooked cleaning tasks! My goal isn’t to overwhelm or make you feel shame if you have never cleaned any of these; rather, I am hoping to shed some light on ways you can get your home looking and in the case with a lot of these, also smelling better, so that when you come home you can truly relax in your beautiful and clean home.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to Him forever and ever! Amen.
1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT
It is the very beginning of spring here in Pennsylvania which means it could snow for another month, or it could be 80 degrees next week—we never know! Generally, when it gets to March-April we know it is safe to start expecting a few nice days here and there. We had one such day the other week. The sun came out and the last pockets of snow that had been lurking in the shadows melted away. There was that fresh, rich smell of damp earth. I don’t know why the earth (dirt) smells so good at the very beginning of spring but it does! It’s one of those little things in life that makes me so thankful to live in a place where we have four distinct seasons—surely the damp earth only smells this good after a long winter—at least that’s what I tell myself!
For me, each season we experience outside brings with it a change within me as well. I look outside in the spring and I see the new bursting through the old. The daffodils poke their heads through a covering of brown leaves; new buds push through the old branch ends creating and adding new growth to the trees. How freeing it must feel to those new little buds to push through old limits and be set free to grow in the sunlight of spring! Is there something we should be pushing ourselves to get through this season so we can grow?
God has created each of us to do and love something specific. Have you ever noticed that when we are doing “the thing” we are made for, that we come away feeling refreshed and even more energized than when we started? Have you experienced that? Do you know what “your thing” is? I assure you, even if you don’t feel like you have any particular talents, there is something. There is something that when you do it, time ceases to exist for you. It may not be anything fancy. For me, when I am engaged in a creative endeavor, I “lose track of time” and become totally absorbed in whatever I am working on (a hard thing for a tightly wound, Type A kind of person to do).
If you are feeling run down and worn out, it doesn’t matter how much you pare down and strip from your schedule, you will not feel refreshed until you spend time doing the thing you were made to do. You may have to scale back on other things so you have time do what you love, but adding the thing that you love is life-giving. It is rejuvenating. Don’t be afraid to try something new—stretch yourself—you may be surprised!
This spring I encourage you to pause, breathe in the fresh, damp smell of new life emerging and think about what God has created you to love and do that. Do it whole-heartedly and unto the Lord! Feel new life being breathed into you this spring.
P.S.
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See the sermon from our pastor that I mentioned here: Life or Death
You all know I love historical fiction, and my favorite is usually American Historical Fiction, meaning of course, that it is set in America. However, I have read several World War 2 historical fiction books lately that I really enjoyed and they all happened to be set in England. If you are looking for some World War 2 historical fiction check out some of these titles!
The Last Night in London
This book opens in 2019 as journalist Maddie Warner travels to England to work on an article in which she gets to interview the famous model Precious Dubose about the fashions and times of World War II and the impact the war made on fashion. The elderly Precious is known to not like to open up to people but she sees something worth opening to in young Maddie. Perhaps this is because Precious, like Maddie, has secrets that run deep buried in her past.
The contrasting storyline takes us back to right before the war in 1939 when Precious Dubose is a young model who recently arrived in England, sharing a flat with her fellow model and friend, Eva Harlow. Eva is desperately trying to better her station in life which means leaving her past as far behind her as she can. This becomes imperative for Eva to do as she starts to develop a relationship with the handsome and socially elite, Graham St. John. However, Eva’s secrets aren’t as well hidden as she would like and before she knows it Eva is blackmailed into being an informant lest her secrets, as well as the very lives of those she hold dear, become threatened.
Secrets of a Charmed Life
Emily has dreams of becoming a wedding dress designer. She is actively pursuing these dreams at the age of 15 when she lands a job in a local wedding dress shop. However, such dreams may have to wait as World War II is underway and Britain has come under attack with threats of bombing from Germany. Still being underage, Emmy and her seven-year-old little sister, Julia, are sent to live in the country. This means Emmy has to leave her job at the wedding dress makers which she is loath to do.
Then one day Emmy receives a letter from her old boss inviting her to come to London and meet her boss’s brother—a well-known costume designer who may be willing to tutor Emmy and enormously enhance her career opportunities. Emmy determines to sneak away from this house in the country in the middle of the night to make this meeting—but problems arise for Emmy when Julia discovers her plans and threatens to give Emmy away, unless Emmy takes Julia with her.
Having made their way back to England, Emmy leaves Julia in their mother’s flat while she goes to her meeting. Partway through her meeting, the blitz starts. Emmy is frantic to get back to Julia but it is not easy to make one’s way through a city being riddled with bombs. When Emmy at last gets back to their flat—Julia is gone. Will they both make it through the blitz and be reunited again?
In America we remember the shortages, rationing, and those on the home front were forced to practice but the Brits had it far worse. Imagine sending away your child for their safely in a time of war, not knowing if you would ever see them again, not knowing who you would lose in the nightly bombings. This novel brought to my attention more of the destruction of Britain than I ever gave thought to before now.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Beth had one of the best minds in the country so why is she in an insane asylum now? She remembers the events leading up to her being taken, kicking and screaming, to the asylum but something still isn’t making sense—there is a missing piece of the puzzle. Will her two once-closest friends come to her rescue?
Osla, Mab, and Beth are friends working together at Bletchley Park, a British intelligence building, where they all work on secret undercover operations to break the German enigma. What happens to split them apart?
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
I listened to this as an audiobook and I couldn’t stop! Told from the rotating perspective of three women, the author, Pam Jenoff, does a great job of keeping you enthralled through the entire tale. This is a story about the women spies, stationed in France, who worked for the British intelligence during World War II. One wrong move could mean death, not just for one of the spies, but for all in their network. The women are working diligently and making progress when a few odd things start to occur—it seems there may be a spy among them….
A decade later, young Grace Heasley discovers an unattended valise tucked under a bench at Grand Central Station. Opening it she finds 12 photographs of young women, around her own age. Grace impulsively tucks the photos into her purse and leaves. Overcome with guilt for stealing the photos, Grace returns later that day hoping to replace the photos, but the valise is gone!
Grace now begins to feel a responsibility to the girls in the photos and pressure to seek out the owner of the valise, a task that proves near impossible. Why were their pictures being carried about in a suitcase? Grace can’t stop her inquisitive nature and so begins her journey to get to the bottom of this mystery, a journey that ends up being much more than Grace bargained for.
The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.”
Isaiah 65:1 NLT
There’s that old joke about the elderly woman who is in the hospital with very poor health. It seems it may be her time to go, so her pastor stops by to visit with her, possibly for the last time. Upon arriving the pastor says, “Mrs. Jones, I’d really like to talk to you about the hereafter.”
Mrs. Jones replies, “Oh good, I’ve been wanting to talk to someone about that!”
“You have?”, the Pastor asks.
“Oh yes. I keep walking into rooms and thinking, `Now what was I here after?’”
I can certainly relate with Mrs. Jones, even at my relatively young age! In fact, just today I went downstairs to the basement to grab something that should have been on my desk in a white plastic bag. I didn’t see it right off, but I saw a few other things that I had been meaning to bring upstairs so I took them upstairs instead. Upon returning upstairs, I looked around for the white plastic bag but I still couldn’t find it, so I went back downstairs. When I went back downstairs I looked again, I didn’t see it, looked a few other places and still couldn’t find it. Finally turned around to give the first area where I expected it to be a good hard look and then I saw it! It had been placed about a foot away from where I thought it was and that is why I it hadn’t seen it! I should also mention that I did briefly look for this plastic bag the day before too, albeit half-heartedly, but hadn’t seen it that time either.
All this to say, if it is this easy for us to miss things we know are in plain sight, how easy is it for us to overlook God when we are not actively trying to seek Him? In Isaiah 65:1 the Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ To a nation that did not call on my name.” (Isaiah 65:1 NLT) Ouch! Have we done that too? Or should I say, how many times have we done that ?
So many times we are trying to make a hard decision, seeking guidance in a tough situation and what do we do? We open our Bibles randomly hoping to find a magic verse before muttering a quick prayer. And then we wait—for five whole minutes—and then we jump up to go talk to our spouse, friend, or other family member to ask what they think God’s will is.
But God isn’t Santa waiting for our requests. And He isn’t a gumball machine waiting to spit out the exact thing we want as soon as we ask. Sometimes He gives us what we ask for just after we ask; other times He allows us to wait. And there are those times He does not give us what we want. Knowing God and His will is a relationship we have to invest in. Now granted, there are times when He will answer our prayers quickly, and there are times when He may seem to not much care about our requests because his silence can seem so definite. But what He wants the most is for us to invest in a relationship with Him; that we seek Him—so when we need Him, we will know that He has been with us the whole time.
