CLEARING THE CLUTTER

The aftermath of CHRISTmas is about to drown me! Throughout the holidays I found myself piling stuff in my office. Piling it there to get it out of the living area. Piling it there til I could tend to it later. Well, "later" is NOW! And the piles are mountainous!

I don't like clutter. I don't like disorganization. It suffocates me.

Yet as I've looked around at my office, my closets, my bookshelves, my pantry....I see too much stuff!!!!! There is about to be a serious cleaning out!

I had big plans to relax this week...the week after CHRISTmas. To relax, scrapbook, take a nap, read a book, take a nap, scrapbook, relax, take a nap, scrapbook....you get the picture. But....who can rest amidst all this stuff????????? Not me! Therefore, I've been trying desperately between interruptions to go through it one stack at a time. Where did all this stuff come from?!!! I think it procreates!

My office is much like our Christian life. It becomes cluttered too. We get so caught up in doing so many things that we neglect our time with God. We are not doing BAD things. It's just that our lives get so cluttered with our TO DO list, that we often find ourselves putting Him farther and farther down the list.

When my life gets cluttered, just as when my home gets cluttered, I feel terribly anxious, overwhelmed and exhausted. Yet when I come to my "secret place" in the morning, when it's quiet and still, it is a place of peace.

My heart yearns for peace. Peace from the chaos of our busy lives and peace from the chaos and turmoil within. That quiet time in the first hours of the morning, when it is just me and the Lord, is the sweetest, most unhurried time of my day. I revel in it. I need it.

During the holidays, I've moved from my office to the den where the CHRISTmas tree is to have my quiet time. I love sitting with the lights on the tree sparkling and the icicles shimmering in the light. Most days it is still dark outside, still quiet and still, as if no one on earth is awake but me and the Lord. It is there that He quiets me, whispers my name and holds me close. It is there that He speaks and there that I pour out my heart to Him, knowing that He cares for me like no other. He is not caught up in the CHRISTmas rush. He is never too busy to listen. He is always available. He does not have other engagements that keep Him from giving me His undivided attention.

Lord, help me to de-clutter my heart and my life as diligently as I de-clutter my home so that I might be untangled by the things of this world that tend to weigh me down and hinder my walk with You. Help me to decrease and you to increase. May I seek your face more this next year that I seek your hand. More of you and less of me. That is my goal for 2009.