I’m cleaning up!
My office is a mess. It’s always a mess. I’m always planning to clean and either I don’t get around to it or it just gets messy again. It’s not that I like a messy office. I don’t. I wish I was the type of person who kept her office clean and neat and always made sure her desk was clear before she left for the day. That is not who I am. As much as I like to think I can train myself to be that way. I really don’t think it will ever happen.
Lately, I’ve read about several studies that show that people who live and work in clutter are creative geniuses. I like these articles. They make me happy. I think about my grandmother who lived in more clutter than I do and how creative and smart she was. She has always been someone I aspire to be like, but I don’t want people to talk about my space the way we talked about my grandmother’s house. I guess they probably do already thoug.
This year, I’ve decided to introduce a new habit each month to help me keep my house a bit less cluttered. For January, my habit was to make my bed every day. This is something I have never done. My Dad tried for years to get me to do this and I never did. Well, at least for now, I’m doing it. And on the 4th day of February, I’m still doing it! Amazing. My February habit is to make sure our den is picked up before I go to bed every night. That’s been pretty simple this week because I got it straight on Monday and Bel has been falling asleep in the car on the way home every night, so she hasn’t been in there to play. So it’s pretty much just a question of putting the junk mail in the recycling bin. We’ll test that habit this weekend.
I guess keeping my spaces straight is a matter of discipline, or lack thereof. As Lent starts next week, we will all be thinking a bit more about discipline and spiritual disciplines. Maybe I need to make it my Lenten discipline to clean my office and keep it clean. Now that I’ve said that here, I guess I’ll have to follow through. Y’all can hold me accountable. That’s what community does. We support each other and hold each other accountable. (I have to say that right now I’m considering starting this blog post over with a different subject.) This is not an invitation to spot check my office every time you’re at church and point out anything out of place. (If this was a Facebook post, I might be tempted to tag a few people after that sentence, but I won’t mention any names here.) It is letting my community know what I plan to do as a Lenten discipline. I invite you to think this week about what you might take on as a discipline for Lent. And once you decide, tell someone so they can help hold you accountable – not police you or scold you, but support you. Maybe we will all develop some good habits, some good discipline. And who knows, my office might be clean for a while.
Molly Gee
