I am determined that Everything Will Have a Place. I love order, I crave order, I need order to function.
I am also determined to clean as I go. I didn't do spring or fall cleaning and am paying for it. I just need the house to be clean and orderly to enable our family to function at our fast pace a little more efficiently.
We have lived in our "new" house five years and I feel like I really haven't moved in. I still haven't found everything, and I don't feel like there is logical order in the house. I dream that I will create such order, that my hubby and kids will "find" things on their own and put them away where they found them. Remember that lofty high school graduation theme, "If You Can Dream It, You Can Achieve It?" I'm still dreaming, but the achieving part is a little elusive.
Starting in the kitchen on Saturday, I thought it would take just a morning. Two days later, I am still working.
I am rearranging cupboards for efficiency. I am throwing out things. I am donating things to the thrift store. I am putting things away in other parts of the house. I am cleaning cupboards inside and out.
Moving in when you have already moved in is challenging, but I am determined to win.
I don't want just a place for the useful things, but also for the decorative things. Some things haven't been unpacked for several moves. They need to be used, put back into storage carefully labeled, or properly disposed of.
I finally cleaned the top of my fridge. Early in my marriage, it didn't even occur to me that the top of the fridge had to be cleaned. After all, I never saw it. I am only 5 feet 2 inches tall.
Then, we had company. A six foot tall man named Al. He saw the top of my fridge and got the giggles. He looked way down on me and realized why the top of my fridge was furry. Then, he felt bad because he laughed at me. For the past 20 years, when I have cleaned the top of my fridge, I have thought of Al. I was SO thankful he said something!
Sunday was Think of Al Day. I cleaned the top of my fridge. Al is married to the wise woman, Connie, who has been a godly Titus 2 woman in my life.
I removed some vintage coffee tins and added the two vintage picnic baskets. One holds baby/toddler paraphenalia (cups, dishes, bibs, silverware) that grandchildren and young visitors will need. It isn't a daily need, so they had to be away but accessible. The other basket is waiting for inspiration.
The "baby drawer" in the kitchen became the holding place for the toaster, the electric knife and the blender, which were all cleverly hidden in separate places throughout the house.
I dug out some of my favorite graniteware and cast iron items for a display on my buffet.
My cherished vintage tins were pulled from the garage and given a place in the dining room.
My antique lanterns were placed on top of the hutch with my quirky birds from my dear Indian friend, Krupa.
Monday begins another school day, but a continuation of my passion to clean and organize. I will tackle Rebekah's school area while she is doing school. I will sort through magazines while she is quietly waiting. I will continue this week and next until I am happy that we are running efficiently.
I crave order because it is my nature.
I also crave order because it is my Father's nature.
1 Corinthians 14:40, "Let all things be done decently and in order."
As I try to make my home subject to me, it is a reminder of the same battle we have with our flesh, trying to make it subject to our spirit.
We need to be orderly in our marriage. We need to be orderly in the church. We need to be orderly in our homes. That means, we follow the Lord's order that He has established in the Bible.
Just as we bring order to our homes by creating a space for everything, we bring order to our spiritual lives by creating a space for everything.
We need a space in our day to read our Bibles. We need a space in our day to pray. We need a space in our day to encourage our family members. Make your own list for your own life. What do you need to create space for?
We see our physical needs easily and can clean, craft and organize our way into peaceful, functioning order. As we're working on physical order in our lives, let's ask the Lord to give us eyes to see what needs order in our spiritual lives as well.
This blog will be linked to Nan's blog, momstheword , for her Making Your Home Sing Monday! Join me there to find out what other bloggers are doing to sing their Monday blues away!
You have some lovely things, Mindy.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts on orderliness. It is not my natural bent so I struggle with other folks cleaning posts! I try! :0)
I have just totally bonded with you!! I crave order and need it to function efficiently. Your desire for everything in it's place to be found and used is fantastic! Since I am 5'0, it never occurred to me to wipe the top of my fridge either! But my wonderful husband notices when "it's time", and it gets a good swipe!
ReplyDeleteI was also blessed and encouraged by your thoughts on spiritual order - God is a God of order and it takes discipline and effort to keep our spiritual lives in order, but is well worth any sacrifice we give. Blessings to you!!
Wonderful! I sooo love order too, but have been a bit lazy in executing it lately. I usually clean out all my closets and drawers twice a year and I didn't do that this last summer.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree how important it is to put our spiritual (and even our physical) "house" in order! Thanks for linking up today!
I was a thirty six yr old a women who craves and desire order. Chronic back pain for 9 years was slowing me down, then I fell down a flight of stairs and my tail bone did not miss one step. On top of that my adopted children came to our home in the middle of the night. Out the door went my clean orderly home.
ReplyDeleteMy son was 2 and daughter was 1 years old. They had no boundaries, nothing was off limits. From eating out of the garbage can to playing in the dirt of my beautiful plants that I had so lovingly nurtured, by giving them names, talked to them, watered, I cherished them.
My daughter two weeks after coming to our home got very ill, no sleep, night terrors, screaming mommy, sleep walking, temps of 102 or more, asemia, vomiting, diarria. You see she had adhd-bipolar and anxiety. Her anxiousness came when the county put her brother in another home for nine months. They had been placed together in 9 different homes, in one years time. That was enough to make anyone anxious especially a child who had seen, heard, and been through things that most of us will never experience, not even as adults.
Needless to say everything thing she went through I was there as though I was her shadow. I didn't know how to take care of a walking baby. Sleep deprived, back pain that made it extremely hard to walk or stand, from pulling soiled linen and clothing, scrubbing soiled carpets, changing diapers all day, on a one year old who didn't know enough to lift her legs to assist me in this task. I did'nt even know enough to teach her, not even talk while doing these tasks. So consumed with my own pain and keeping order. Three months into this testing and trial, my sister said, Romance you have to talk to to her, teach her these things.
A few more months passed, by this time I was literally raising her from my bed. We set up a little table so we could have meals there. That room turned into our damage control area, central station, living room and dining room.
The more years passed, the pain increased and I became more disable .I became more and more depressed just because I was not able to do the things that I use to do around the house, do for others, helping my sisters with there kids. My kids began to grow out of my cave called a bedroom and began to explore other rooms, I felt like a injured mother bear with two cubs. Most of all I could not satisfy my craving for order and cleanliness. I allowed this to consumed me. A friend was coming to clean for me and she did't come for hours the more I waited for her to come the more I slumped down into my first panic attack.
I was making my home my god. When I was angry about my lack of ability having my own daily pity parties. the Lord came to me and said Romance you are really not happy or content with the lot I have blessed you with. I put down my pride and accepted help from my buttercup sister in Christ my M&M (Mindy Mentor) and mommamindys little apprentices (daughers).
I felled to mention I only been a Christian for 7 months. Thats when the beginning of the fall of my orderly state began. I let it worry me so to the point I was admitted to the phsyc. hospital for a small visit. The Holy Spirit spoke through the doctor and said to me and my husband, she can't do what she use to, the two of you will have to come up with a new clean.
You see everything has its place, timing, acceptance, thankfulness, contentment, wisdom, growth. Moms don't fret and worry about if you dusted top of your frig. or in my case the ceiling fan, don't beat yourselves up. Remember Christ doesn't want perfection, He just wants thankfulness and willingness. Get out of His way and let Him do His job of perfecting us.
Yes it is our job (calling) to have order, but just like any other job we need to follow the instructions the manager.After all its His house not ours, He will guide you to the Godly order He desires. Allow Him to manager your order.
May Lord help you keep a godly pace.
Your chocolate sister in Christ Jesus---Love
PS my little buttercup sister don't wear your self out before my visit in April --giggle
ReplyDeleteMrs. Peltier, I too have to have order. I just don't function well in mess and/or chaos. (this being my room- I find.) :)
ReplyDeleteMs. Romance, thank you for that encouraging note. What wisdom and testimony. I hope I will come across it when I am a weary mother someday to remind me. <3
Awesome! I love your displays! You have a nice decorating style! Sometimes when I am cleaning out the physical clutter, some internal clutter gets purged as well. My little mind is just working and decluttering itself as I go!
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh and then it made me cry. It struck a chord there at the end. Or maybe a nerve?
ReplyDeleteI came from The Lumberjack's Wife; I was curious about a woman who had been pregnant for 58 months!
We moved into our house last March, but had moved two years prior to that (to a house around the corner...moving around the corner is REALLY HARD), and two years prior to that we had moved as well. We never did it orderly. My husband was gone ahead of me for the first move, and I did most of the packing all by myself, then the rest of it got thrown all together. The next time I did most of the packing and left early and the rest of it got thrown all together. Same thing this last time...so that's a lot of stuff just thrown all together. There are things from three moves ago, in boxes, that have never been looked at since. Ugh. This was motivating to read...yet the task is daunting. Thank you for your Scripture reference. I think.
I have spent three years getting rid of stuff we moved to this "new house" (been here four and a half years) and have often wondered, "Why did I even bring this?" I must have order in my physical surroundings or I can't seem to keep order in my mind. I "feel" the disorder. Glad to know I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeleteI loved it . . . and I feel like I should check the top of my fridge! :)
ReplyDeleteI have sever OCD I shall say no more. Is it a sickness or a blessing??/ I don't know but I am happy in my little OCD world. I don't push it on anyone else in my house. I just make sure it gets done by myself. I am very lucky however that my family knows I have OCD and they walk around me like they are walking on eggshells. ""How sad""" I wish I could just be a slob! Life is just to short. But I will continue to have a clean and orderly home. God help me!
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