If there are kids in your house, you know the feeling.
There is a certain chest-tightening that happens when you find the toddler has pulled out all the folded towels, or when the preschooler has left a soapy trail of toilet paper and water from the bathroom to the kitchen.
Then there’s the headache when the noise and activity level is so crazy that there’s no way you can focus on finding homes for all the piles of random things.
Of course, if you are trying to find homes for things in the bedrooms, panic attacks are inevitable when you look under the bed and behind the dresser.
Why even bother getting organized when every other person and event in your house seems to be a force for disintegration?
We do the work of organizing because it is our job.
We treat organizing like a pet project, but that makes us crabby and grabby.
Getting organized is not for us. It’s for our family. It’s for the church and community. It’s a responsible use of time and resources to make the most of both for God’s kingdom.
We cannot let the world give us the definition of organized. When we imbibe their image, we believe that we should be in control and our homes should be pieces of art.
Instead, it is the people that are pieces of art, and the home is only the studio. Have you ever seen an artist’s studio? It’s full of works in progress. On top of that, the people – ourselves included – are not our works of art, but God’s. We aren’t even the artist in this studio. We’re housekeeping. We’re on janitor duty. It’s our job to tidy up at the end of the day, not our job to keep everything pristine.
The work of organizing is ongoing
When we adopt the world’s standard of organization, we think it is something we can accomplish and check off, achieving a status or a look that we wanted.
But that’s not God’s picture of organization.
God’s picture is a garden, in which He puts people to tend it. Tending is ongoing, continual renewal and small steps forward. Tending recognizes growth, change, and even entropy.
Our home, our selves, and our families are not for our glory, which is what the world tell us organization is all about.
We are for God’s glory, tenders and keepers. God asks not that we keep everything just so, but that we work with joy and gratitude, patience and kindness.
That is our challenge, not keeping the house clean.
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