My new years resolutions for 2009 basically centered on simplifying my life and focusing on that which was most important - God, my husband, my children, family, friends, and health. I'm still struggling in keeping to my resolutions, often finding myself up at church on my only day off, Saturday, working. Being bivocational isn't easy. It's often difficult to carry the responsibilities of a ministry while working a full time job. Sadly, my family are the ones who sacrifice the most for me to do so. However, to serve in ministry is such an honor and reward in itself and it is something our whole family does together. Besides, I LOVE serving God in this way!
Even so, there are things I allow to clutter my life and knock me off track. These things cause me to stumble. They eat up precious time, fragmenting the time I do have to spend with my family. They cause undue stress, triggering massive migraines on almost a daily basis. They divert my focus from God and His work, wasting my efforts on the trivial instead of the eternal. These distractions cause me to get off focus, neglect my home, my friends, my health, and my God.
In Today's Christian Woman, author Mayo Mathers hit home in her article "Too Much Stuff: If clutter's got you down, try these secrets to simplifying." She made me realize that by reducing the clutter in my home, by clearing out the 'stuff' we have, can go a long way in simplifying our lives. Now I don't consider my home to be cluttered. However, as I read her article I realized just because you can't see the clutter, doesn't mean it's not there. I immediately related to the author's cluttered closet. I must admit, as a woman, I cannot relax in a messy, cluttered home. If my closet is cluttered, if my cabinets are cluttered, if there is 'junk' scattered everywhere, I'm a nervous wreck. When I come home from work, I can relax and destress if my home is nice and tidy. If it's a wreck, all I do when I get home is think about all of the WORK that I am facing. Mayo's article made me realize, that even though we have a modest home and live a modest life, we still have WAY to much stuff. You should see our GARAGE!!! So my plan is to start paring down and simplifying my home for starters. It'd be nice to open up a cabinet and not have tupperware spilling out everywhere! (Or cats jumping out from every direction!)
Our homes should be our refuge from the world. They should be our sanctuary for our families, offering peace, comfort, and relaxation. Our homes should be where we can detox, reorient, reenergize, and regroup. Ideally, our homes should offer us less stress, not more!
Is your life cluttered? Perhaps the stress isn't just caused by your busy schedule, responsibilities, or other issues, but also by an abundance of 'stuff' to maintain. Check out Mayo's article at http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/1999/janfeb/9w1052.html.
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" Luke 12:15
In His Love, Cathy
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