The tradition of spring cleaning likely comes from the Christian practice of Lent. We clean our souls by going to confession. Then we draw closer to God, responding to His love with our love, with works of fasting, penance, and almsgiving. By the end of Lent, if we have worked hard, we will have eliminated habits of sin. Our souls will have become more fitting temples for the Holy Spirit.
Catherine Fournier, in her Domestic Church. com essay on Shrove Tuesday, explains the origin of spring cleaning similarly when she says that
"Lent is a time for cleaning, in preparation for Easter and spring. First your soul, then your kitchen, then the rest of the house was cleansed and purified of the past year's accumulations. Old clothes are mended and new clothes purchased at this time of year. In the Ukraine, houses were whitewashed inside and out during Lent. In this way, everything was made ready to face the season of Salvation and Rebirth. Traditions of 'spring cleaning' stem from this religious observance."The idea of a spiritual element of housecleaning intrigues me. It may be easier to focus on God in our daily lives if our homes are simpler, less cluttered, less distracting. For me, anyway, all that visual noise prevents focusing as I should on loving and caring for my family and our homeschool. To say nothing of what it does to my prayer time, and thus, my relationship with God. Medieval families had a winter's worth of spills, mud, and muck on the floor by this time of year, and they needed to put down new rushes. They cleaned out during Lent in preparation for the great feast of Easter. Our homes are full of the excesses our greatly blessed culture allows us to bring in. We often acquire things without really realizing how much we are accumulating. So we clean our homes as well at this time of year, both for the physical and the spiritual benefit.
That's why I was inspired by the idea of discarding/donating/redistributing 40 bags of stuff during Lent when I read about it on Faith and Family Live. Their site is full of encouragement, support for growing in faith, and tangible ideas for living the faith. It is a place I regularly visit when I have a little time to spend reading blogs. I'm hoping that this idea will draw our whole family into the house cleaning and, if we work hard, result in a less-cluttered, more spiritually inspiring home in time for Easter.
The 40 Bags challenge inspires me, but it also strikes a tiny bit of fear into my heart. For me, detachment is a struggle. I like to hold on to things. I think my German great-grandmother would sympathize. :) Inspired, however, by reading the life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who practiced detachment almost to the extreme (but whose actual needs were always met by God), I'm beginning this with some trepidation. I'll keep some notes on the blog about our progress, and mine, as I learn to let go of things we don't need.
Day 1: Mom's dresser drawers. (Do I really need to keep clothing that I have owned since 1995 and haven't worn since 2005? Why am I so attached to these things?) Dad's shoe shelf. (Not a whole lot here: he's better at this discarding process than I am.) Filled a bag!
Update: Here's a link this year's post in the place where (I think) this idea got started last year: the Shower of Roses blog.
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