Overcoming Busy

Identifying Clutter

January 28, 2009 by Marci

Thanks for the great feedback on the last post in your comments and emails!  It seems I have hit a nerve.  When I first realized the concept of clutter going beyond just stuff and junk, I thought it was a divine revelation! LOL!  Really!  My eyes were opened to a whole new way of looking at the world and my place in it.  I began to see all the distractions that cause us to lose focus on what really matters in life as junk that needed to be thrown out or filed for future use.  Just as we clean the clutter off our countertops, junk drawers and kitchen tables, we need to de-clutter our lives from time to time.

After my last post, readers contacted me with their various types of clutter: kids’ activities, over-scheduling, not being able to say NO, worry, perfectionism, the internet.  Each person identified their clutter and expressed the desire to get rid of it.  But how and how much?  The first step is to step back and decide what is really important to you.  As they say in all those success and management books, “begin with the end in mind”.  Do your activities and habits line up with what’s most important to you?  What is making that area stronger?  What is making it weaker?  What is just a plain old distraction?

For me, my relationship with God has to be at the top of my list.  Matthew 6:33 says “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  I love my husband and my kids and I have lots of interests and activities I enjoy, but God has to come first in order for any of that to even matter.  So, I must make sure that my activities and habits distract me from spending time with God and studying His word.  And that’s hard!  That’s where I get the main insights into being a wife, mother and friend – not always from the latest magazine or from copying what the neighbors are doing.

Yesterday, I found a great blog post on Making Home.  The author makes a great point about how we have gotten so into “stuff” that we miss out on life.  It seems that wherever I go these days, clutter and distraction is a hot topic.