Embracing the Mess

Just kidding, not even my house! :)

I think I’ve lived under an illusion for many years that has caused great frustration and much discontent. I am a person who likes order. Not much thrills me more than shelves lined with the same size Rubbermaid containers. All of which have perfectly printed labels.


Now, having said this, a few things keep me from living in this perfectly organized little world. One, my own laziness, busyness and distractedness. Two, nine beautiful blessings, my children. Three, small house, lots of people, lots of stuff. Even though I am not a pack rat, and always seem to give away or throw away stuff, eleven people have lots of stuff!


It is my job as a Mama and manager of our household to manage efficiently all this stuff. The illusion I have lived under is that if I could just go through the house and organize everything, then, well, then I would be done! It sounded so reasonable and simple to me and I didn’t understand why the children didn’t get it. Maybe if they were trained better. Maybe if my house was bigger. On and on I could go with the reasons as to why I just can’t get it done and be done. Was it me?


Praise God for opening my eyes to the realization that this is my job! My dear husband pointed out that he wouldn’t go to work one day and just be ‘done’ with his work because he did it. It is what he does, and this is what I do, at least in part.


Our needs constantly change, new babies, new seasons, new clothes, toys get outgrown, diet changes, on and on the list goes. It is my job, no, my great privilege to manage all these changes. It is extremely challenging at times, but my God is right there ready to give wisdom and unique solutions to me. It will never be done, and that is okay! Now I can accept this truth and tell myself that this is part of my calling. I’ve long ago accepted the house won’t always look perfect, though I do so love the few minutes it looks that way on cleaning day. ;)



Now I am able to look at each new area that needs reworking and reorganizing as an opportunity to ‘do my job’. I used to get frustrated because I seemed to be wired to have everything organized and could never achieve it. Now I realized that ‘wiring’ is not a curse given to me to frustrate me, but a gift from God to help me manage our stuff as efficiently as I can.



Perfectly, by no means, but well enough!


I am working on joyfully embracing the mess, looking at it as an opportunity to use my gifts, glorify my God, and teach my children how to adapt, organize and that the stuff isn’t worth losing our peace over.



...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

It's what we do with the 'littles' in our life

that really counts, right ladies?