De-cluttering

I hate clutter.  I can live with a dirty house for awhile, but I can't live in a cluttered house for much more than about 24 hours.  Especially the clutter you can see.  I pretty much have to have all surfaces clear before I go to bed.  Toys, stray socks and library books picked up off the floor.  The kitchen counter cleared off and wiped clean.  There's just something about waking up in the morning to a clean house. 

But, then there's that clutter that's hiding.  The clutter that kinda nags at you in the back of your mind for weeks and months on end.  For me that was my not-so-neat stacks of sweaters in my closet that were now more messy looking piles.  My attic where I couldn't even walk to find my wrapping paper without tripping and falling. And the back of my double deep closet.  Did it even have a floor?

Today I just said "No more!" and went to town. It all started because I wanted to wrap some Christmas presents and hide them in the attic. Only I couldn't get to the wrapping paper or find a spot for the wrapped presents without first majorly cleaning and de-cluttering the attic.  This involved going through quite a bit of my kids old clothes.  Out of sight, out of mind, seemed to be Laura's maxim as she willy nilly had been tossing clothes that she either didn't like or didn't fit her into the maw of the attic's jaws.  Ugh, the pile of clothes was ugly, but we waded through it and stuffed three garbage bags full for donating and lo and behold found several pairs of jeans and pants that currently fit her!  Then on down to my closet where I was able to get rid of several sweaters I no longer wear and while I was at it fold them and stack them neatly.  And then into the depths of the back of my closet. I did discover the floor of my closet along with several nightgowns I had been missing for months!  And we stuffed two more garbage bags full.  Where does this clutter come from?

We seem to live such cluttered lives.  Our homes are stuffed with, well, stuff.  And our lives are stuffed with activities until our brains no longer have time to stop and rest, our families are too busy to eat a meal together and our marriages are running on empty.  We throw another piece of clutter into the attic of our busy, busy life and it's out of sight, out of mind.  "Oh, I'll think about spending time with my husband later." "I'll let my kids just be kids later, but right now we've got to run to basketball, hockey, ballet, etc, etc."  Or even worse, "I know I should have time to sit down and spend time with God, but I'm late for work, late for soccer practice, even late for church!"

Maybe it's time to de-clutter those attics and closets of our lives.  Maybe it's time to take an honest look, just like I did in my attic and my closets. Hmmmm, nope that activity just doesn't fit so well anymore, I think it's time to toss it.  We can't "Be still and know that I am God" if we never stop and just be still.

When was the last time you had the time and margin in your life to be still?  To be quiet and spend time with Jesus?  When were you able to answer his call in Mark 6:31? "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest awhile."

Clutter stresses me out.  And clutter in our personal lives is stressful too. We need to de-clutter so we have the time to talk with our kids, to build our marriage and grow in our relationship with God.  Life is so much more than work and activities.  We were created to be relational people and we need to have the space in our lives to build those relationships.  Dive into those dark, dusty, scary attics in your life and throw away some junk! Sometimes the process hurts a little. Sometimes you have to make some difficult decisions. Sometimes I have to give away clothes I even like, but I just haven't worn in awhile! But, it's worth it all to have a little breathing room.