CLUTTER!!!

Oh, how I hate it!!!

I couldn't sleep last night, so I had some quiet time to think while everyone else was sleeping.

I was sort of griping to myself about the clutter that's in my house right now. I"m usually fairly quick to "de-clutter" areas of my house that get piled up because I just can't stand things being piled up. It makes me feel claustraphobic. But, you'd never know that if you looked at my house right now.

We have a room that is sort of our "playroom"~our computer is there, along with Noah's air hockey table and his train table, some toys, and most of the children's art supplies. This room is an open room, meaning that it has doorways, but no doors. AND~it's smack in the middle of the house. So, I generally get uptight when it gets cluttered.

This past Saturday, my Dad and my husband brought me 2 HUGE cabinets out of my grandmother's house. These things are big enough to hold nearly all of what is in this playroom~toys, books, art supplies, games, etc. But, in order to make room for them to bring the cabinets into the house, I had to pile everything in the middle of the playroom, on top of Noah's train table. It's a huge mess, and I , quite frankly, don't feel very motivated to clean it up!!

Last night, as I sat thinking and trying to bore myself into falling asleep, I started to wonder WHY I kept putting off cleaning up the clutter in the playroom.

I came to the conclusion that there is just too much clutter in other places right now for me to give the playroom priority. There is too much clutter, not so much in our house, but in our lives. At least, that's what I thought at first. Then, as I began to mentally run down the list of things we are currently involved in, I realized, it's isn't that much. Further more, the things that we are working on right now are things that we are certain the Lord has led us to do.

As I sat there, thinking, praying, and reading my Bible, the Lord opened my eyes to be able to see that the clutter I'm struggling with right now is not in my house, or in our schedule. It's in my own heart. My personal priorities are not where they should be.

I spend too much time reading emails and message boards, and not enough time in the Word of God. I'm also guilty of making time to do things I want to do and letting slide the things that I NEED to do. Much of that comes from selfishness.

I've been whinnig to the Lord a lot lately.

Instead of thanking Him that we've been financially blessed enough recently to not have to struggle so much with the bills, I find myself still whining that we don't have money for "extra" things like a vacation this year.

Instead of taking the best care that I can of the home the Lord has given us, I"ve been whining to the Lord that He isn't moving fast enough to show us His will about the possibility of moving into another house~something I want very much.

I've been cluttering up my heart and my mind with thoughts and wishes about the house we MIGHT move into, and the vacation we MIGHT get next year, and other things that MIGHT soon come to pass. There is nothing wrong with thinking about those things, but dwelling on what might be tomorrow has made me completely ineffective today.

Clutter!! Oh, how I hate it!!!
Vicki