Month: February 2024

Day Forty One – Removing Clutter

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve become addicted to YouTube. Yes, you’ve read correctly! I’m always surfing the following topics, homesteading, remodeling, how to make vanilla extract, genealogy and quilting. And as you know I should be cleaning and decluttering. I have one year to gather the fragments of my life before my husband, me and possibly my youngest son move to another part of Colorado.  

But in the meantime, for some strange reason a channel keeps popping up on my feed as something I might enjoy. So! One day I decided to watch it after a title grabbed my attention. The video was of a husband and wife remodeling their [new to them] doublewide. 

 As I sat watching them install fake beams I concluded the wife was extremely annoying; therefore, I stayed clear of clicking on their channel. Well! In the wee hours of the morning guess what channel popped up for me to watch again! Yep! The annoying woman!

I gave her another chance! This time she did not disappoint! She was talking about decluttering her children’s bedroom, being an understanding mom, addressing her shortcomings and arriving at a junction where things work for her. But! The one thing she said that struck a chord with me mentally and emotionally was “no one wants to live in clutter.” Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father God, no one wants to live in clutter. Yet, life happens. Clutter happens. And sometimes people find themselves living in conditions they would never live in otherwise.  Help them to fix the problem that hinders them from becoming the person they are destined to become.  Amen 

Day Forty – Removing Clutter

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

Let’s pray!

Today, Lord, I’m praying a worldwide Valentine’s prayer of love.  I ask the following of you because all people deserve to live a fulfilling life.  I pray for people in power that think and act and like children.  Their immaturity has a negative impact on those they lead and the world.  I pray that you will show them the level of their thinking in such a way that it gives them the desire and ability to change. Amen 

Day Thirty Nine – Removing Clutter

Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.

Psalm 54:4

PRAYER

Father God, gathering up the fragments of our lives when they’ve been shattered can be hard.  Please help us on our journey as we clear the clutter from our homes and our lives.  Amen 

Day Thirty Eight – Removing Clutter

When they were filled, he said unto his disciple, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

John 6:12 KJV

Learning to stay steadfast on your decluttering journey during times of uncertainty is truly hard. You’ll find yourself falling off the wagon many times when it comes to keeping your home neat and tidy. And, as a result you’ll wrestle with discouragement from time to time. But keep going! The prize you’ll win at the end of your decluttering journey is discovering the love of self.    

Over the weekend I called a contentious cousin. Why? I don’t know! I guess I love punishing myself. If I say the sky is blue she will say it’s black. The funny thing about her is that she’s always talking smack about one of her sister’s she feels does the same to her. Yet, she treats me like her sister treats her as she feels she’s being positive.  People like her is why I love the song by Michael Jackson “Man In The Mirror.” And I’m sure we all have one or two people in our circle that are negative and extremely delusional that their positive.

As I fought being overwhelmed I found my mindset was somewhat different.  Instead of letting her put a damper on my good intentions and or zap me of my energy, I said to her, “Wow! You can’t hear me gasping for air trying to sort through items. I’m trying to figure out who gets what because it was meant for me to buy all this stuff to be a blessing to others. Yes, my home is overrun with stuff but I can be a blessing to others because of it!” [Silence]

So! If it takes you a day, days, a week, weeks and even months to sort through your clutter, then it takes you that long because healing starts over and over with everything you touch.  Let’s pray!

PRAYER

Father God, thank you for the power of healing.  Help us gather the fragments of our lives as we let go of things that we don’t use nor need.  Let the things we give be a blessing to the new owners.  Amen 

P.S.

On Friday I started with cleaning my food pantry. I was able to salvage some items to keep and some I donated to a senior citizen complex but I had to throw a ton of canned goods away. I feel bad about having to put food in the trash when so many people go hungry but they are two years past their expiration date.