Just the word brings a mental picture to each one of us. To some degree, we all suffer from some form of clutter from the hoarders who it truly is a mental illness to those of us who just take the easy way out. Peter Walsh, the great organizer of TLC's Clean Sweep, has a new book out where he says that clutter in your home can make your butt big. On Oprah, he tooka family of four, 48 hours and changed their lives. He said, You can't make healthly choices in a messy house.Room by room, he helped them see that by decluttering their living room, kitchen and bedrooms, they now can make healthly. Enviromental,physical and spiritual choices that no longer are slaves to the overwhelming aroma of having to take care of, store and live with - so much stuff.
He talked about the two kinds of clutter - memory clutter and Imightneedthatsomeday clutter. I truly believev that we each have this thing called clutter whether it is visible or not. If you walked into my house on any given day, you might think I don't have a clutter problem in the world but I have little tufts of the nasty stuff. Whereever the clutter is, the reason for it is to fill Something inside. A void that longs to be filled whether by stuff or food. My grandmother would buy food just to keep her refrigerator full. Most of it always had to be thrown away. It was that felling of being full, never haven't to want. We all have areas in our lives that crave some kind of consumption. Over and over again the word, respect, came up - the relationship between clutter and having respect for the things you do have is undeniable.
I think Peter is on to something. If your house is out of control, it can't be the only place in your life that this is true. Is there enough value to take on a Big Project and make that committment?
It makes me think about what I buy and why.
It makes me think about where my clutter spots are.
It makes me think about what I am trying to fill up and why...
Makes me want to clean out a cupboard. I have been working on it for a few months but have run out of garage space to put things for a spring yard sale. You may not be able to wait/want for a yard sale and donating it now may make the most sense to you. Either way, it really is about filling ourselves up with the good, healthly things. Can't help thinking that God is just waiting for us to turn to Him - He would be more than happy to oblige each one of us...
