Spring Cleaning for Your Heart and Your Home

Springtime always invokes in me a fresh motivation to get my life in order. The warm mornings, the cheerful bird songs, the fresh scent of moist earth and growing plants, the blossoming petals that grace the previously bare branches all speak of a new beginning and invite us to enter into the season with a renewed hope. How can we not respond on an interior level to the natural exterior world unfolding and blooming around us?

With Lent just behind us and the Easter season just beginning, perhaps it's a good time to think about how we can continue to grow spiritually now that our Lenten sacrifices and resolutions are past. There are so many resources and programs out there to take our spiritual growth to the next level. It's easy to feel the desire to take a spiritual vacation after six weeks of Lent and in a sense, the celebratory Easter season gives us that break.

But the danger we fall into is to grow lazy, fall back into old habits and lose sight of the progress we have made. This can be said for both spiritual growth and for personal goals with your home and family. We have good intentions to blossom in all aspects of our lives but if we don't have a plan and we fail to live with intention than we tend to get carried away with the tide.

The mundane routines, the crazy schedules, the stresses at work or at home, the worries about our health or finances, the frustrations with family members, the addiction of social media all come barging in to clutter our homes and our hearts with fluff. All the difficult parts of life easily distract us from our true purpose and we become discouraged and we give up trying to bloom to our fullest potential. Or we revert back to the old feelings and habits we thought we had just put behind us!

[tweet "Counter distraction by removing clutter in home + heart. By @mrsdavidchriste"]

The way to counter these distractions and anxieties is to have a plan to remove the clutter both in your home and your heart. The best way to start is with daily prayer.

Spring is the perfect time to make new resolutions to pray more regularly and to follow through with consistent spiritual practices. Take some quiet time to ask the Holy Spirit what virtues He wants you to work on and what dusty parts of your heart need to be decluttered so that more room can be made for God. Make a list and schedule prayer time and activities on your calendar.

Start using a prayer journal, I've started using one this year and it has really benefited my prayer time. Tami Kiser shares some great ideas to get you started on prayer journaling.
Find a new book to read about a saint you've always wanted to know more about or a teaching of Catholicism that you want to understand better. Dynamic Catholic has so many affordable options including a page on the daily prayer process and a collection of free books to encourage and inspire you.
Resolve to dive into scripture more by reading a chapter of the Bible daily. The Gospels or the Psalms are a great place to start.
Start going to adoration or an extra daily Mass once a week
Start a book study with friends through the Women in the New Evangelization book recommendations or a use a Catholic family video program to grow in faith with your family weekly.
Learn about the 24 spiritual charisms of the Holy Spirit with the Called and Gifted program
Purchase the Relationships Series from Catholic Conference for Women and go through it individually or with others. Read the CatholicMom.com writers' reviews for each talk.

As you work on uncluttering your heart and giving God room to blossom in your life, perhaps you will want to give your home and your family routines a good spring cleaning as well. I find it is much easy to focus on interior growth when my exterior life is in order. Again, find some quiet time to sit down and figure out what areas of your life need improvement and order. Make a list and create a plan.

Declutter and reorder your house room by room. I share my method for decluttering and offer a free printable to help motivate your decluttering goals.
The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle which is a collection of resources and tools to help you create a more orderly, happier, prettier home will be going on sale from April 26 - Mary 1st. You can sign up here to get notified about it through email.
Look at your schedule for the next few months and figure out how you can simplify your days or say no to a commitment that is causing you unnecessary stress.
Try some of these 67 ideas for a stress-free morning routine.
Meal planning has also changed how my homemaking is organized. It might be something to consider if you want easier evenings.
Sit down with your family and make a weekly chore and to-do list that includes every member of the family.
Create a cleaning routine where you resolve to do different tasks each day of the week or month and stick to it.

I hope these ideas give you some inspiration to continue to blossom in the plans God has for your life. Happy Spring!