Spring is a season of renewal; flowers bloom, animals come out of hibernation, and people escape their homes to rediscover nature. For us in the Northeast, there is nothing we appreciate more after a cold, gloomy winter than a beautiful sunny spring day.
Spring is also when we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, for which we get to revel in the new life of spring on earth and real spiritual life with Him in glory.
As we approach another spring and Easter season, Pathfinders Pastoral Care Ministries encourages you to start over. We often associate starting over with the end of something; a relationship, job, home, but we believe starting over can be a way of thinking or doing.
If you have struggled to make time for prayer every day, “start over.” Rethink your days and schedules to accommodate time for worship, and start prioritizing prayer into your days. We want to share two simple ways to start over and renew your mindset.
Refresh Your Space
Spring brings about the age-old chore of spring cleaning. While some may find this task daunting or avoid it altogether, cleaning your space can have positive benefits on your physical and mental health.
“Studies have found that a relaxing and clutter-free home has a positive effect on people’s daily mood and ability to focus (healthline.com).” Beyond concentration, spring cleaning has been shown to:
Strengthen your immune system
Prevent illness
Decrease feelings of stress and anxiety
Create a safer environment (especially for older adults)
In addition, review what you own and look for opportunities to serve others. Do you have jackets or clothes that you could donate to your local Rescue Mission? Do you have any gently used furniture or household items? Organizations like Habitat for Humanity ReStore “accept donations and sell home improvement items to the public at a fraction of the retail price. Proceeds are used to help build strength, stability, self-reliance, and shelter in local communities and around the world (habitat.org/restores).”
Evaluate Your Relationships
It’s important to distinguish; take time to evaluate your relationships, not the people in them. When it comes to your marriage or intimate relationship, ask yourself questions like:
How often do you and your partner truly enjoy the same experience?
Do you talk to your partner about important thoughts or feelings without fear of distress or judgment?
When you disagree, can you talk things over to come to a resolution?
The purpose is not to doubt or find flaws in your relationship but to find areas of growth and improvement. No one is perfect, and the same applies to marriages; they take work and commitment. If there are areas of your relationship that need attention, “start over” and address them.
Pathfinders Pastoral Care Ministries understands that “everyday challenges can cause couples to drift apart, develop bad communication patterns, or just get stuck in a rut. We act as a third party to objectively hear both of you, and we specialize in working with marriages that seem hopeless. Let us walk you through the path of couples counseling and bring you back to the connection you had on the day you said, “I do.”
As the spring season approaches and we celebrate new life and blessings, we encourage you to find new beginnings in your day-to-day life. Take a more scenic route to work to start and end your day on a more positive note; reconnect with people in your life who you lost touch with but miss dearly, or simply make more time for yourself and your spiritual walk.