Friday - "Spring Cleaning Your Life"

Title: Spring Cleaning Your Life!

Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Friday, March 20, is the first day of spring and the time of year many people begin thinking about spring-cleaning. But, is there a special time to “spring-clean” one’s daily life? To examine the inventory of things we do each day that take up our time and share of mind? The idea is to eliminate waste, but in this case waste could be defined as anything or activity that does not add-value to our Christian life.

The above Bible story in Luke 10:38-42 is about Martha and her daily priorities. Martha was perhaps a great homemaker and spring-cleaner in the traditional sense. But she perhaps lacked a clear spiritual perspective to daily living. Her life was so out of balance she actually asked her guest, Jesus Himself to discipline her sister Mary in front of the rest of the guests in her home! All Martha really wanted was recognition of her homemaking skills and standards. Instead of praising her for her high earthly standards, Jesus commented on her heavenly standards and the imbalance between the two.

A Japanese manufacturing tool that is used by many to reorganize things is 5S. It is apparent from the Bible that Jesus used the 5S principles in His life to maintain a balance between his earthly duties and heavenly duties as well. Here are the steps for 5S’ing ones daily life:

1.) Sort - Take inventory of things you spend time on each day, and remove the things that add no value to your spiritual life. In 5S we say: “When in doubt, move it out.” Sinful acts need to go, but also valueless activities like reading a daily newspaper or sleeping late if you get nothing of value out of it.

2.) Set in Order – Re-arrange things left in your daily routine for easy and efficient execution. In 5S we say “A (time and) place for every thing, with everything in its (time and) place.” Time savings from step one can be used to rearrange you day to make it more efficient and to be able to add more spiritually value-adding activity. Newspaper reading time could become Bible study time, or quality time with a family member or friend. Saturday night church makes room for Sunday morning serving.

3.) Shine – Clean your remaining daily activity to make them “shine” with quality. In 5S we say “Make it clean and keep it clean.” Family time becomes quality kid time; prayer time is not done in commute to work but in a place where you can give it 100% attention. Cooking meals again at home means meeting around the kitchen table again, like it used to be.

4.) Standardize – Make yourself guidelines or standards to keep your daily activities organized. In 5S we say “What you can’t see, you can’t control.” See the possible “what ifs” of your daily life and know what you will do to minimize the negative effect on your spiritual value-adding daily routine. What if I get sick…what if my car dies…what if I have to work late? How then will I manage my day? Standardizing helps to answer these questions before they happen.

5.) Sustain – The fifth S maintains the first 4 Ss so they continue to be effective for you. In 5S we say, “Maintain the gain and forget the blame.” Maintaining the gain means fixing the problems when they happen. The rhythm of life constantly changes and challenges any great process and plan. Responding quickly to the effects with 5S as they happen will minimize huge changes later if left alone. Failure often causes one to blame the uncontrolled circumstances rather than ourselves for not taking the time to regroup using 5S.

In short, 5S your life to eliminate the waste and fill in the voids with meaningful things that is spiritually value-adding, to your life and the live of those around you. After all, you never know when you may get a visit from Jesus like Martha did. Will you be ready to sit at His feet?

Written by Jess Reyes