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Thoughts from the Corner Box
Spring Cleaning
Spring is my favorite time of year, and May is when we are well into it, with Mother Nature showing off all the warmth and beauty she can muster. Spring is a time of renewal. It's time to clean up the dead leaves, limbs, and twigs, last year's dead flowers, and make way for everything to be clean and new.
I always feel better in the spring. Finally, the dull, gray, cloudy skies of winter make way for the bright, blue, sunny skies of spring. The sunshine gives me a mental boost, and I think I actually feel better, mentally and physically, when winter rolls into spring.
This spring, my spiritual life is being lifted a little bit, too. I am doing a daily Bible study with the person who was my very first best friend. We grew up next door to each other. When we met, I was five, and she was six, and the friendship we formed back then has grown steadily over the years.
In our daily study, we talk a lot about things that aren't part of the actual study, but we somehow manage to tie it all together. If we are talking about Jesus healing someone or Paul talking about who will go to heaven, we work the conversation into someone we know who is not in good health, someone who is struggling in their faith, or someone who is on fire with their love for the Lord. It all ties together, but our stories aren't always what you would call Biblical. We giggle, we have laughed until we couldn't talk, we've solved problems, and we've come close to shedding a tear or two. We are two hundred miles apart, but I feel as close to her as I ever have.
I like what we are doing because we are studying the Bible. We read scripture and explain how we can apply it to our lives. We talk about, well, today our scripture had nothing to do with Esau and Jacob, but somehow they came up in conversation, and I remembered something she didn't. I didn't remember exactly what she was saying, so off we went back to Genesis to find out what we were trying to remember. To me, it was a wonderful study because I want to know the Bible through discussion, not through what somebody thinks they know and wants to tell me.
I am full of new thoughts and ideas coming from a friendship formed over seventy years ago. I know there wasn't a Bible when God was doing all of his planning and creating or when Jesus walked the earth, but I can't help but think this is how He wants me to study His word – read it – think about what it says – talk about it – listen to what others think and then apply the word to our lives.
Our lives change when spring rolls around. We are tired of being cooped up all day, and we do fun adventurous things. Things like: on May 1st, if you look into a bucket of water, you will see the reflection of who you will marry. I must have picked a windy day when the water was rippling, or maybe sloshing out of the bucket, because I never got a clear picture of anyone.
Putting the water bucket aside, I will tell you that this has been a good spring for me. I hope it has for you, too. I hope your flowers are blooming, the grass is growing, the sun is shining, and your faith is taking off in leaps and bounds. I hope you have been renewed in your faith and in your hopes, and that you are still dreaming of all the good things to come.
"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
2 Corinthians 5:17
Sandra Mayhugh, May 2026
One more thing. On May 1st, some people dance around the Maypole to celebrate the return of spring and the beginning of summer. I like that idea. It's a pagan ritual: a pole decorated with beautiful flowers, with singing and dancing, and who doesn't like a good day of pole dancing!
Create in me a clean heart… and renew a right spirit within me" Psalm 51:10 —
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