Confessions of a "Well-Planned Hoarder"

One of the biggest obstacles in our first few weeks (months?) of marriage was determining the standard for organization and cleanliness. I knew I was somewhat organized and liked to keep mold from growing in my living space, but there's something about sharing a bathroom and kitchen sink with a boy that seems to spotlight my high standards for a well-kept home. Since I am Mrs. Organization and am studying to be the facilitator of 20-something students under the age of 12 (also known as an elementary teacher), the battle with my new husband for an organized home was a bit more of a challenge. For example:

He said: "Where's the computer charger?"
She said: "In the box under the coffee table. It'll always be there, so you will always know where to find it."
He said: "Why would you do that? Just leave it plugged in the wall!"

I just can't handle something as ugly as a charger not having a "place" out of sight. Hence the box under the coffee table. But my manly husband doesn't understand why the plug has to be out of sight!

I've been dwelling a lot lately on the true importance of organization in my season of life and what it truly accomplishes. I like being organized because it helps me feel like my life is under control and running efficiently. But how much of our lives are dedicated to organizing?

This minimalist blog struck my heart in a freshly sharp way. Could organization become "well-planned hoarding"? Are we constantly in the business of getting our clutter together and out of sight? I'm not talking about a time organizer (like an agenda or calendar), I'm talking stuff. I had a breakdown last weekend because I couldn't find "a thing to wear" in the massive mounds of clothes that had stacked up inside my closet. Sound familiar? I dedicate at least 45 minutes each week to finding a place for all those clothes in our little apartment and single dresser. Perhaps what I need is less organizing skills and simply less.

I could use the time I spend re-organizing my messy and crammed clothes drawers doing much more productive things like serving my husband. Or doing my never-ending homework. And being content with just a few quality items in my closet, because all I need is less.

Do you agree? This is a difficult concept to adopt in a consumerist, there-is-never-enough era. I'm learning, and I'm mostly just tired of re-organizing my super-crammed closet all. the. time. The lesson learned is contentment and uprooting of the stuff I don't really need so I can spend my hours on the things that really mean a whole lot more. What is most worth your precious and fleeting time?

Day 2: Where I would like to be in 10 years

This one is so much easier to write about than yesterday's topic! Since the day my elementary teacher gave me an agenda to write down my assignments, I've been hooked on planning- in fact, I'm pretty sure I wrote my friends' assignments down in their agendas in 4th grade. It's that bad. I still have the planners I used in high school and my freshman year of college for 2 reasons: 1)I'm that attached to my planners and 2) it makes me laugh to look back at how much I wrote down and how ridiculously organized I was (and still am, really). I was a busy girl, but the organization of it all is what keeps me together.

Not only do I hold tight to my planner in order to know the next few weeks of my life, but I also hold tight to plans for the future with a grip that the Lord is slowly loosening and releasing. I can remember a time in high school when I told a friend that I would be perfectly content to be a "soccer mom" for the rest of my life- minivan and all. I just knew that my life would involve public relations, children, and a husband. And a minivan, of course.

After spending a week in Guatemala and having my heart tugged in a thousand different directions by God through the faces of sweet little kids, I found my "soccer mom" plans to be tremendously shaken and questioned. I began to wonder just what the Lord had in store for me, and realized that I had been holding on to my future plans with a frightening grip that relented any tender whisper from God to give them up. I considered going on a summer-long trip that would take me away from many close loved ones, and I almost talked myself out of it. In fact, many people tried to talk me out of it. But I found a short and profound quote by Corrie ten Boom in the front of my Bible, and I immediately applied to go to Asia:

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

It seems like a simple concept, but when you're in college and literally feel like the entire world is at your feet, it can be overwhelming to peacefully submit an entire life and future to the Lord. Since going to Asia, I have learned that people have many plans, but the Lord determines every single one of their steps (Prov. 16:9). Since then, I've made so many plans and had so many expectations, and it just seems to me that all of those plans never seem to work out the way I intend for them to. Therefore, when I tell you my plans, I will most definitely put the disclaimer of "Lord willing" in front of it- and it is incredible what peace has washed over me as a result of laying all of my plans in His hands! I wish I could go on for a few more days about the incredible lessons I have learned from the Lord about resting on the promise that He sees and knows everything that will happen to me, and He is in control of every bit of it.

So yes, I have those fun ideas about where I'd like to be in 10 years- I'd love to be married to David Carl and have had a few precious little children by then, and I would love to have a couple years of experience under my belt of teaching ESL and special needs kids, and I would LOVE to be in another country where the name of Jesus is rarely spoken, and I would love to have learned how to cook like my momma and sew precious little dresses for precious little girls, and it would be great if we were all healthy and happy and little world travelers. But I know that God does not promise for everything to turn out the way I plan, so I'm resting on the promise that He allows every good, pleasing, and perfect purpose of His own to come to completion (Romans 12:2).

Of course, I would decide to give the long answer to a seemingly easy question.