For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. . . . But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
—1 Corinthians 14:33, 40 NIV
THE NUMBER SEVENTEEN IN THE DAUGHTER OF SARAH story below is not an exaggeration; it speaks to our nature as Americans to hold tightly to our possessions. But there is great freedom in living plainly, simply, and in an organized fashion.
Sharise wandered into the house from a morning meeting for her part-time job and stared in shock at the disaster in her kitchen. The contents of all the cabinets lined the counters and the table, covered the chairs and even the floor.
“What have you done?” she inquired incredulously.
“You and I both know this kitchen is inefficiently set up, Sharise. You have too much stuff, and I want to make your life easier,” her sister replied. Kristi had come to live with them during a separation from her husband. Sharise, a communications professional, coached Kristi on her communication with her husband, while Kristi helped Sharise get her house organized.
“Are you aware that you have seventeen frying pans?” Kristi asked.
“Well, I knew I had a lot, but I didn’t realize we had that many! Jeff has different ones for different things, and they’re all different sizes. There are a few in there for doing eggs, and I know there’s one for crepes. Then there are some cast iron ones in different sizes, a few that are non-stick, and one that’s aluminum. Um, we both had a bunch when we got married, and then we purchased a few more . . .” Sharise replied somewhat sheepishly.
“Have you heard of Goodwill?” Kristi asked. “Go get Jeff and find out which of these you actually use,” she ordered. Sharise did so, and after much discussion, they had nine pans in a box for Goodwill. She and Kristi spent the rest of the day putting the kitchen back together, using efficiency concepts. Instead of her spatulas being in a drawer all the way across the room from the stove, they ended up in a pretty pitcher next to the stove so she didn’t even have to take a step to grab them. The spices were also placed next to the stove, where they could be accessed easily. They put the dishes where the children could access them more easily to set the table and moved the paper products to a seldom-used cabinet for storage purposes.
The box for Goodwill continued to fill until they had to make another one. Five Goodwill boxes later, the kitchen was finished. The two women stood back and admired the job. Jeff came in and received the grand tour. After thanking the women for their work, he added, “I’ve always thought this could be more orderly—it’s set up intuitively now and should work better.”
BOTTOM LINE: Run your home in an orderly way, keeping only what you truly need, and you will have less clutter and more peace!
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
1. People tend to either have a place for everything and everything in its place, or have piles of items all over their homes . Do you fall in one of those categories or somewhere in between?
2. Clutter and disorganization are often life-stage issues, so give yourself some grace if you are suffering from a physical impairment or have little kids in the home. Keeping that in mind, what, if anything, needs to be organized in your home? Make a list of the rooms or areas to be addressed.
3. What would change in your life if you had more order to your home?
4. What about your work? If you have a cubicle or office, what needs to be organized in that space? Make a list.
5. What would change for you at work if you were more organized?
Pray that God will help you become more organized and orderly in the way you live.
Many of us are planning to fail by failing to plan. Inaction is also a decision. Today’s challenge is to spend seventeen minutes right now prioritizing your lists from today’s questions. Specify tasks for each room. Use a timer to create a sense of urgency and to keep the exercise from turning seventeen minutes into an hour.
Print out your task lists, and tape them to your refrigerator. Each day, using a timer, spend just twenty minutes working on the top priority task. Check it off when you are done, and move to the second priority task, and so on, until your list is complete.