It’s a tradition for many Chinese families to do “Spring Cleaning” before the Lunar New Year to discard the “old” (Cleaning) and welcome the “new” (Spring). Some would take the opportunity to do this annual exercise to “get rid” of things that have been accumulated for years, things that had not been used, things that could not be used, things that were bought on impulse, and things that were not needed, well, any more.
Since we moved out of Singapore for 6 years now, and we would celebrate Lunar New Year with our families in Singapore, we had not had the opportunities to do “Spring Cleaning”. When we decided to move to China to serve the Lord then, we did a very “thorough Spring Cleaning”. It was then that I realised that it was very easy to accumulate and build up “treasures of this world”, but it took lots of efforts to “get rid” of them.
I was very convicted then when I looked at the amount of things we had in our apartment. It was crazy! We managed to give away most stuff, and there were a lot more that we didn’t know what to do with them! Finally, we left Singapore with 4 bags.
So, you would think that people learn from their mistakes. Well, no prizes for correct answer … after 6 years living in China, we have, unfortunately, “accumulated” more than 4 bags of stuff! It’s certainly time for Spring Cleaning! Why didn’t I learn to “spring clean” progressively? Do I really need a season and a reason to do it?
It makes me think of my life before Christ. Is it an annual spring cleaning for me to confess and live blamelessly? Or I should “consciously and conscientiously spring clean” as I walk my Christian walk and confess my sins and live a holy life?
Perhaps what I really need is sprint cleaning instead of spring cleaning! May our gracious Lord help me!
Positioning to live within a community – Tim is a tentmaker. For prudent reasons, we cannot divulge his real name or citizenship. He did not go to another country but had to make a cross cultural leap within his own country.
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A few weeks ago, a co-worker of mine who is married to a Korean Christian worker told me something interesting. She said “Korean missionaries unite around the Gospel but we bring our differences to the mission field and fight over them!”
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