It's that time! Spring cleaning. Okay, maybe it's a little early, but my house really needs it. It's no secret that I will never win a "Little Miss Homemaker" award. Neatness is not one of my strengths. In fact, I am a serious pack-rat.
Yesterday a friend of mine and I were talking about our similar "hoarding tendencies" and how crazy we are. After we finished laughing at ourselves, she shared with me that the time she felt the most peace about how she was living was when she and her husband were living on the mission field. They lived in the mountains and had very little. She reminisced about her life there and in a nutshell she said, "I was living in such simplicity I knew I was truly living the way God intended me to."
These words have been resonating in me.
For a while now I have been telling myself I needed to clean out 2 closets in my house. The first one is the hall closet where we keep all of our blankets, extra sheets, board games, etc. It had become so full that I had to lean against it with all my body weight to shut the door.
The other one was the "miscellaneous" closet in our extra bedroom/playroom. I'm embarrassed to say this, but have you ever seen that Tupperware commercial where the lady opens the cabinet and thousands of pieces of Tupperware pour out on top of her? Well, that's this closest, except it wasn't Tupperware--it was full of wrapping paper, gift bags, random Christmas decorations, old clothes, some of my art paraphernalia.....you get the idea.
After having this conversation with Alyssa, I was determined to clean out the closets THAT day. It was hard work! Believe me when I say this, even though I had to honestly confess that I would probably never use a lot of the stuff, it about killed me to get rid of most of it.
In the end, I ended up switching the purpose of each closet. The hall closet became the new home for almost all my craft/art supplies and the playroom closest is now home to the extra linens. Here are some pictures of the after. (I didn't even think about taking before pictures. Thank goodness, or I would have felt obligated to show you!)
I think the clear shoe boxes are my favorite parts of this whole reorganization!
Here's the playroom closet (remember think "Tupperware" here). At least I'm not afraid to open it anymore. I'm hoping to put labels on the plastic drawers so we can know which are the twin sheets, and which are the queen sized sheets. There are also a few other things I'd like to do with this closet (i.e. shelves), but we'll see.
The last week God has really been hitting me hard with some really important Truth. What do you think He's trying to teach me?
1. The conversation with my friend yesterday.
2. Our ladies' Bible study at church this week touched on living lives of true contentment--meaning not based on our "stuff". In it Beth Moore asked a question, "On a scale of 1 to 10 how important is your stuff to you?" (Do I have to answer that honestly?) Ouch.
3. Our Life Group at church is reading Crazy Love by Frances Chan. (Wesley and I read this once already, but it's good to go through it again.) In the chapter entitled "Profile of the Obsessed" Chan said, "A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. [They] know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment..."
4. Our Pastor's sermon last week...I can't even begin go there with you, but it was wonderful/painful. (I know that doesn't sound great, but think exercise: putting your muscle in distress makes it stronger and in the long run you look and feel better.)
I can laugh at my hoarder-like traits all day long, but when I was up to my armpits in stuff that I really didn't want anyway, I was reminded how the closets in my heart labeled "selfish" and "unfaithful" were in need of emptying.
Please, Lord, the closets in my heart need some serious Spring cleaning! And when you're done, please fill them back up with something wonderful that can be an encouragement to others!
