Lenten Devotional: March 13, 2026

by KayLee Bennett McFall

Clearing Space

Scripture: Psalm 51:10 ESV

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Reflection:

The last few months we have been constantly moving things at church for the new remodel of the 3rd floor student ministry. The WhereHouse is holding all of its things with more things from the 3rd floor and other places in the church.  Along with two extra-large trash bins of trash!! Getting ready for a The WhereHouse garage sale and then moving things to the 3rd floor, oh my. Cleaning out long-forgotten corners has reminded me of how easily things accumulate. Boxes we meant to sort through. Items we thought we might need someday. Things we didn’t even remember we had until we moved them.

It’s amazing how quickly spaces fill up.

Our hearts can be like that too.

Over time we carry worries, disappointments, habits, distractions, and even good intentions that slowly pile up. None of it happens all at once. It’s just a little here and a little there—until one day we realize things feel cluttered inside.

Lent is like a 40 day spiritual clean-out – a purge.

It’s a season that invites us to pause, open the dusty corners of our hearts, and let God help us sort through what we’ve been carrying. Some things need to be let go. Some need to be put back where they belong. And some things we discover we never needed to hold onto at all.

In the world of computers, there used to be something called defragmenting the hard drive—reorganizing everything so the system could run smoothly again. Sometimes our souls need a spiritual “defrag.” A reset that clears space so we can see more clearly and hear God more clearly.

Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” 

This Lenten season, maybe the invitation is simple:

Open the boxes.

Clear the clutter.

Let God press the reset button.

Because when space is made, grace has room to move.

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