I love a clean house. After one of the snowiest winters on record, I couldn’t wait to start cleaning! Even before the advent of spring, I dug in for some serious scrubbing, dusting, and de-cluttering. In the process, not only did I find a lost bank deposit box key. Whew! I also uncovered five spiritual tips to inspire your own winter’s-over, grime-be-gone cleanup party:

1. Housecleaning may not earn high status, but it is spiritually significant work. One of the first things God did after creating the heavens and earth was to “put everything in place” (Isaiah 45:18 NLT). When I’m fed up with cleaning and feel my work doesn’t matter, I remind myself that in the beginning God created order from chaos. If it’s good enough work for God, why not me?
2. Good news, Moms. Nowhere does the Bible does it say that all the housework is your job! In fact, after creating the first man and woman, God told them to take care for their environment together, instructing them to jointly “govern it” (Gen. 1:28). So crank up the music and divvy up the housework.
3. Jesus likened God to a cleaning lady. Remember my lost key? It was going to cost me several hundred dollars to replace. After searching for a couple months, I finally found it in the bottom of a basket. Wow, was I happy. Christ said that’s the same way God feels about us—like a woman sweeping her house to find a lost coin and rejoicing over it (Luke 15:8-10).
4. Live with it too long and grime becomes invisible. This winter, my lampshades developed a thick layer of dust thanks to our woodstove. I didn’t even notice until I took them down. After brushing it off, I turned the light on and couldn’t believe how much brighter the bulbs shone. It’s easy for my life to develop a thick layer of too. When I ask God for forgiveness, Christ wipes the dirt away, and my life shines brighter (I John 1:9).
5. If it’s broken, toss it—unless it’s precious. That was the rule I gave myself to reduce clutter. To the dump went a broken birdbath, cracked toys, and pottery plates that couldn’t be fixed. Only the most valuable damaged items got saved—a Hummel figurine with a glued on head, a chipped Royal Doulton baby mug, a fractured ceramic doll painted by my husband’s late grandmother. It’s the same with us. Even when we’ve messed up. Even when our lives are broken, we are far too precious, far too valuable for God to haul to the dump. He treasures us cracks and all (Romans 5:8).

So if you—and your family—bust out your mops and buckets this spring, take time to reflect on these verses for an inner sparkle.