Oh bed you're dead

A messy bedroom: thankfully not mine, before or after!

Is your bedroom relaxing and calm? Or do you heap 101 unfinished projects or books to read in the corners and on the furniture?

I thought it wasn't too bad on my side of the bed UNTIL I started clearing. Yesterday I emptied the drawers of my nightstand, washed the bedding, and hung the down duvets in the cold sunshine. Today I tackled the floor beside my bed: 5 magazines, 30+ books. 2 letters to be answered. That's a lot of reading; thankfully I'm well on the way through most of it.

A relaxing bedroom, also not mine

By the time I write, the publications are sorted, separated into library and mine, finished and must-read, and shelved. The fluffy sheepskin rug is shaken outside, the floor vacuumed, the furniture dusted, the long bins under the bed moved and replaced (DIY tools and purses in separate bins. Important things stay close at hand.)

I've stuck to my goals of re-homing something every day on Freecycle and having a bag or two every time a charity calls. Gradually, as I promised myself for the New Year, I'm leaving behind the past for the future.

The outside reflects what God is going on the inside, helping me shed old habits for new graces. I am grateful.

Australians can request household clearing
pickup from their city. Good idea!

Due to a  miserable cold, I have resisted going out to spread it. So I've missed two engagements I was really anticipating. Raclette with friends and a writers group. One has been rescheduled. One is a loss.

But my side of the bedroom is clean and tidy. "Never shun small gifts!" she tells herself as she smiles and tosses the dust rags into the wash.

What have you been putting off? Do you have an unexpected morning or evening to deal with it?

Read more:
Here's a marvelous "inner room of the heart" de-clutter and cleanup message, sent by my friend Tillie Porter:

*Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.


For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 NIV

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O soul, are you weary and troubled?
    No light in the darkness you see?
    There’s light for a look at the Savior,
    And life more abundant and free!
      
 Refrain:
        Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
        Look full in His wonderful face,
        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
        In the light of His glory and grace.
 
  Through death into life everlasting
    He passed, and we follow Him there;
    O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
    For more than conquerors we are!
  
 His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
    Believe Him, and all will be well:
    Then go to a world that is dying,
    His perfect salvation to tell!
 
      -- Helen H Lemmel 1922

Get outa bed, already!

Some days it's hard to get out of bed. The covers are warm, the room is soothing, and the mattress is "just right."I love our room: the chocolate walls envelope us, but the dark color provides a background without defining boundaries. Vintage fuscia-pink drapes, about to be tossed, were rescued to frame the sliding door to the deck.

We bought a $100 limited edition print for someone's wedding. I framed it, and got it ready to give away. All three couples who were going to chip in to pay for the thing were newlyweds, so money was tight. "Oh, we don't like that, and we don't think they will either," said one of the couples. Oops!

We've hung the print in our offices over the years, enjoying it in different spaces. Now it's come home to live with us again as a perfect compliment to our style and colors. Classics are like that. The old brown dressers, purchased twenty years ago at a "grandma's-dead-and-what-do-we-do-with-her-stuff" sale, have outlasted classic and contemporary redecorating. Kirsten uses the night table, so a piece of the set has traveled the states with her.

It was time to get out of bed when the sun peeked through the trees. I still love to wake up to the cocoon, looking out to the woods behind the house, anticipating the day.

I waited for ten years to put up those drapes. I knew without the right color to match their impact, they'd look garish. W felt unsure about the brown, and hated the idea of a mass of hot pink. "I can't believe I'm going to sleep in a pink room!"

After all these years, he mostly trusts my judgement in spaces: he rolled on the luscious brown, "Every wall?! You sure?" and reattached the drapery rod near the ceiling. Those drapes puddle on the floor, which is both fashionable and annoying. I can't bring myself to cut them shorter.

Since the pictures were taken, we moved the bookcases to the LR so I can color on the big empty wall with pastels (in lieu of art, and easy to erase). The chaises sit in the conservatory. And the low dresser rests at the foot of the bed, the perfect platform for a jewelry "tree" and watching movies on the computer.  I'm thinking of hanging hammock chairs in the open space, somewhere to curl up in and read or drink tea, watching the forest light up the day. Hmmm, redecorating - that's worth getting out of bed for.

Read more:

*Gen. 22:3  Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

Num. 9:21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.

Psa. 5:3     In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
        in the morning I lay my requests before you
        and wait in expectation.

Psa. 90:14     Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
        that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psa. 143:8     Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
        for I have put my trust in you.
    Show me the way I should go,
        for to you I lift up my soul.