Spring Cleaning

I've just spent most of today giving our house a spring clean. I'm tired and exhausted now but I am please with the results...but please don't ask me to do it all again until next Spring!

When I had a break this afternoon from all my cleaning, I got to wondering what the history of spring cleaning is. After all, we don't do a summer clean, autumn clean or winter clean, so why do we spring clean?

To be honest I'd no idea, it's just something my Mum always did when I was wee. It's just something that seems to be ingrained in me that I should spring clean the house.

So I did some investigation:-

In times past, when people kept their houses shut tight against the cold of winter, heated them with coal and oil and wood, and lighted them with candles, the coming of spring signaled a welcome opportunity to make a dingy habitation fresh again. On the first warm, dry day of the season, everybody in the family—that is, everyone in the family who had survived the ravages of the cold season—would pitch in to pull every stick of furniture and scrap of cloth outside. Then, armed with brooms and washrags, one squad of house cleaners would return to the house, sweeping and scrubbing every corner and washing down the walls, while another would air out linens, remove soot and ash from couches and chairs, dust books and paintings, and mend a few items on the run.

These days of course because we all have central heating or electrical or gas fires in our houses there's not the same dingy air inside as there was in past times. That said though, we still go through the winter months keeping our windows and doors closed to keep the heat in, so when spring comes, it's a chance to open up those windows/doors and let some fresh air in and give the house a clean...a spring clean.

Having discovered the roots of why we spring clean, I found myself realising how appropriate it was that we spring clean round about Easter time, as not only is this a great time for cleaning our homes, it also a great time to renew our relationship with God.

Whether you are reaffirming your relationship with God or are just starting on your christian journey, make this Spring the time to not only spring clean your home, but spring clean your relationship with God too!

Happy cleaning!