Cleaning with a Mess

Our house has been in a constant state of disarray, and I have been in a fairly constant state of frenzy.  Even as I write this very delayed blog -- my mind is racing through all the things I hope to accomplish tonight. The task that brought this post to the forefront is moving four of the bookshelves scattered through our house to our new home office.  I need to clean off the shelves to move them and there is no reason to put them all back if there are some I can do without.

A quick glance around the living room and the mess is easy to see: paintings that were sealed awaiting a new home on a wall, totes of movies to be donated, overflowing bookshelves, and the ever-present baskets of clean laundry - waiting for closet space.  A small house and an abundance of blessings means organization is a high priority. The thing is I have always found organizing to be a messy task.

Whenever I need to organize something I make a "clean" mess.  This is a mess of piles and donation boxes and usually bags of a different mess that I need to organize later.  I generally lay everything out so I can see what I have, create and recreate groupings within the mess for optimal sorting and storage, and figuring out what is missing or what I need to do differently.

I used to question my method, but then I realized it seemed familiar for an unexpected reason.  I used this process to clean in my life because it is the method God uses to clean up my life.

When I let my life become cluttered and unorganized, God makes a mess. He draws out all the activities, plans, desires, treasures, and sins and puts them on display for me.  Once I am aware of what they are, the organizing begins. He starts removing those that will prevent me from following Him.  He cleans the stains my sins have left with the mess of the cross.  He helps me prioritize my activities by their importance within His plans.  And my plans?  My plans are usually tossed out the window.

Sometimes this mess is painful. Sometimes this mess is embarrassing.  Sometimes this mess is lonely. But life is always better after you let God set about the messy task of organizing your life. He does a better job than I ever could.  Don't forget to leave the window open!