Spring Clean-up

Looking into her mother's bedroom, Kalina saw piles of old clothes and jewelry scattered everywhere. "I'm cleaning out my closet," Mom explained. "Why keep clothes and jewelry I never wear? I thought I'd donate them to the thrift store." "Wow!" said Kalina. "Want some help packing it up?" "Sure--but why don't you go through some of your things too?" suggested Mom. "Get rid of what you don't use." Kalina frowned. "Go on," said Mom. "Some of your clothes have gotten too small and should be replaced." Kalina brightened. "Replaced? What a great idea!" She left and returned a little later with a big box. "Look, Mom!" she said as she pulled out an old stuffed bear. "There's hardly any stuffing left inside. And this sweatshirt is three sizes too small for me now." Together she and Mom sorted through the rest of the things. At dinner, Kalina told her dad about all the things they found to get rid of. "You should probably get rid of some junk too," she said. "I bet you haven't dumped stuff for ages." Dad grinned. "It hasn't been that long. In fact, I got rid of a lot of junk not too long ago--right after I was saved, actually. I got rid of some old bad habits." "Dad! That's not the same as cleaning out your closet," Kalina said. "In a way it is," said Dad. "Those habits don't fit who I am anymore, so why keep them?""Well, I was saved when I was just a little girl," Kalina replied. "I didn't really have any bad habits to get rid of." "No?" Mom's brows went up. "You used to tell a lot of lies, remember?" "Oh yeah." Kalina blushed. "I forgot about that. I used to get mad easily too. I guess I did have some junk to get rid of--I still do sometimes." "We all need to check ourselves daily to see if the way we act and treat others shows we belong to Jesus," said Dad. "When we trusted in Him, He made us new people, and we want our lives to show that. We need to depend on Him to help us replace bad habits with good ones that help us grow in our relationship with Him and show others His love." -Vicki L. Reinhardt