Chaos to order, more or less

What motivates you to clean up? I'm sorting through things. Again. It's 2am in a busy week of coach training but I can't sleep so here I am. Madness? Maybe. Hopefully temporary.

"I wish I could move in here!" That's the comment our guest keep repeating. "It's calm and uncluttered, not like my place." That calm comes at a high cost.

One rule of science drilled into our heads in high school said that everything descends from order to increasing chaos, or "everything is running down," not evolving into something better.

Most of us periodically fight the descent into disorder. We have surges of organizing, bouts of housekeeping, and indulge in spring cleaning. Some people naturally run toward order. Their floors are always vacuumed, their cabinet shelves immaculate behind closed doors, and their cars washed.

Since May, I've sorted, sold, and given away life-as-we-knew-it. Every time I get a little breathing space, I get another dump of stuff to sort. In the wee hours of this morning, I'm going through sewing things = a serger manual going back upstairs for the serger the kids said they wanted; the manual and bobbins for the beloved Bernina sewing machine claimed by our daughter; and a huge bag of donations for curbside pickup this morning.

What an ongoing chore for me as well as for my daughter-in-law, who's expecting a baby imminently and excavating her own boxes upstairs. Just when I think things are claimed (or slated to give away), we start another round with the same stuff. "Didn't you say you wanted this?" Oh yes we do. Oh no we don't. It's frustrating and exhausting for both of us.

I throw china, crystal, pictures, and books into bags and send them to the curb. Just don't care anymore. Don't want to touch them for the third time. Don't want to think about them. Don't care if they smash. Don't care if they get tossed.

With each donation pickup, my piles get fewer and thinner. W hasn't started on his stuff in the attic, garage or his office. I don't have to deal with that. I'm almost done with my end.

We crave order for many reasons. Are you an occasional or perpetual order-maker? Which of these match your motivation?

1. That's the way it works best: we have limited space and time and order makes everything run more smoothly (my mom's motivation. She gets satisfaction from keeping a clean house.)
2. Seasons and holidays: guests are coming so we put our best foot forward. We clean and decorate, viewing the rooms with fresh eyes.
3. Exhaustion: we're tired of dusting and moving too many things so we declutter with garage sales and donation runs.
4. Reinvention: we're ready for something new. We're spurred on by our New Year's resolutions or a shift in thinking. Our flurry of cleaning reflects our good intentions.
5. Boredom: we are tired of the old, refreshing our spaces with new decor.
6. Fashion: we pick up a decor magazine and realize that our 80s broadloom carpet and tufted sofas have seen better days. It's time for hardwood and clean lines.
7. Relocation: moving to a different community or space.
8. Life change: the new season of work or life doesn't fit the old life. Going back to school and need space on our desk for textbooks and a laptop? The kids have moved out and we can set up an office or workshop? They moved back in and we have to give up space?
9. Other - why do you create (or crave) order?

Life sorting

Seems like there's always stuff to sort around here! I just got through a major organization effort at the beginning of the year. Now my office and desk look like the Tasmanian Devil from the comic strips whirled through. My online calendars are unreliable: I found an afternoon appointment for today, entered on my phone calendar, that didn't synch to my computer. Who knows what else I missed?

I'm scanning years of university notes, so there are full and half-full boxes of scanned pages. "Keep them until you know if it stored correctly on your computer," warns my husband. So boxes of random notes, in and out of page order, have begun to pile up near the scanner.

For someone whose mind ranges as far and wide as mine, physical order is a must. I tend to pile printouts of interesting ideas. "I'll get to those later today," or "I can read that by week's end," I tell myself. That often is true... but when it's not, the stacks mount into chaotic read-me obligations. Those piles drive me crazy.

Today is a sorting day. Between three appointments (one at home, thank God!), I have to tackle the books, magazines, and papers in this one room. Besides, I need one of the papers for a morning appointment.

Sorting. Sorting. As fast as I can.

No matter how wonderful life it, troubles come. Schedules get interrupted. We get sidetracked by unforseen appointments or information. Perhaps people we know need more attention than we'd planned to give them.

I'm so glad God can keep track of time, people, and everything in this world. He never loses an opportunity to renew and restore, whether it's humanity or nature.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by everything you could be doing, eating, seeing, or thinking? How do you sort through your possibilities and obligations?

Read more:

*Isaac's men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means 'hostility'). …

From there Isaac moved to Beersheba, where the LORD appeared to him on the night of his arrival. 'I am the God of your father, Abraham,' he said. 'Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.'…

One day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander. 'Why have you come here?' Isaac asked. 'You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.'

They replied, 'We can plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let's make a covenant.'…

That very day Isaac's servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. 'We've found water!' they exclaimed….

But Esau's wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26:21, 23–24, 26–28, 32, 35 NLT

*"To whom will you compare me?  Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:25-26 NIV

*If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:8 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Liberating God, we follow your ordinances over the ways of human construction. At times, this may bring criticism upon ourselves, but may we be ever faithful to the way of Christ over any other semblance of law. Amen.