Deciding to Simplify

My friend Robin’s theme for the year is ‘simplicity‘. I’ve adopted it during lent, along with my 2012 theme of ‘decide’ (which I have decided not to write much about – yet). One way simplicity is breathing a calm focus in to our home and my heart is through clearing out excess and clutter by way of donations and unadulterated trash. Purging some of the neatly and not so neatly stored American amenities from our closets and drawers ‘simplifies‘ and will hopefully help our home and bless someone else’s.

The belongings that remain after such a clearing are more visible and valued. I’m not a ‘hoarder’ but to my dismay the clutter and disorder seem to want to…uh..take over like the entropy I learned about in high school physics (matter has a propensity to move toward disorder)!  The disorder creeps in ever so slowly, seeming to be completely acceptable in the hidden places. For the most part our home ‘looks’ neat and uncluttered on the outside, but it doesn’t take long, if left unchecked, for the ‘untended’ and ‘unseen’ places to become a sanctuary of disorganized and unused ‘comforts’.

Oh, how many times do I collect and store treasures in the hidden places of my heart that beckon to be cleaned up, evaluated and either given away or set firmly at His feet? My gifts of encouragement, wisdom, loyalty, intercession and mercy need to be embraced and shared along with their victories – yeah, I can’t say it’s always easy – but my heart can ‘get‘ that side of the coin. It’s harder for me to share my struggles, hurts, worries, judgments, and lessons learned the hard way – it takes more effort and trust to untangle and release such things.  But…yep, I believe sharing the disorderly rough spots in our journeys, at the right time and place, can shed great light on His successes and help others in unmatched and powerful ways.  After all, what home can be full of growth and life without the disorder!

Lord, help me, help us, to take time to clean and clear the clutter of our hearts and help us share the gifts you’ve entrusted to us – that they may be the visible and valued even in the midst of impending disorder.

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. James 5:16-17 MSG

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