Decluttering

I am not a person who can live with clutter. The last few weeks have been a challenge as I have had to confront the clutter in my former home’s closets, cabinets, and places I had even forgotten I had put things. Just when I thought I had sold, donated, or thrown out everything I didn’t need, Michael and I moved into our current home—and he brought his stuff along with him! One thing for sure, I have learned highly creative ways to organize and store things. The garage is all his.

I began to think of other things that cause clutter in our lives. Some say you can’t have too many friends; and while that is an easy statement with which to agree, I thought of those who called me their friend but who later betrayed me. I realized it’s not a terrible thing to declutter the friends list by marking off “toxic” people; I don’t stop praying for them and their situations, but I take myself out from any direct relationship.

Then I had thoughts about other types of relationships, those that involve resentments, envy, constant anger. It’s not the people that I need to declutter as much as it is my negative attitudes that prevent a cordial, helpful, loving relationship to occur. I began to think about what I resented, why I envied, or what made me angry. Almost 100% of the time, it was something I could control, sometimes a hurtful situation, disappointment, or misunderstandings. In those situations, it’s not the people who need to be decluttered, but rather my mind as I intentionally practice forgiveness and love and take responsibility for those situations I can either change or need to put behind me.

Time—now that is something that definitely needs decluttering. I look at things that take up my time each day, and that compete with more meaningful, enriching activities. How many times do I have to look at my phone and clutter my time with mindless games or get caught up in the reels? Yes, there is benefit in taking time to refresh, but scrolling through countless “teasers” that suck me into ever more irrelevant articles is not the way to go. I’m amazed at how cluttered my life has become with such activities.

There’s an even bigger thing that needs to be decluttered from my life—worry! My overactive imagination tends to create catastrophic situations where there are none. Not having all the facts or not asking a direct question give rise to speculation, and with me, that is almost always thinking the worst.

Attempting to put all this in perspective, I remember the sermons I have heard recently about transformation. I realize that I have an example to follow in dealing with toxic people, harmful attitudes, use of time, and worry—Jesus. Scripture abounds with how I should think or deal with these things. While 1 Corinthians warns against “bad company [which] ruins good morals” (15:33), Jesus tells us to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Luke 6: 27-28). I find in Ecclesiastes 7: 9 how to handle anger: “Do not be quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools” and later in Ephesians “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (4: 31-32). Regarding time as well as the rest, Isaiah warns that all these things are like thieves “who come only to steal, and kill, and destroy. Finally, Paul addresses worry in his letter to the Philippians (4: 6): “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
As I work to declutter my life, I find all the advice and encouragement I need in the word of God. Changing attitudes toward people and circumstances, spending time productively, giving worry over to God require changes in me—renewal, transformation. Is my “household” decluttered now? No, I’m still working on it, and will be until all things are made new.