In preparation for a house full of company next week, and because we could barely open the door, I cleaned out the pantry yesterday. If the level of organization in my pantry “pre-clean out” is a representation of the state of my mind, I should probably not be allowed to operate heavy machinery.
Along with one thing that had expired in 2006 (a box of oats, I think,) we had 11 jars of peanut butter in our pantry. ELEVEN! If you count the separate containers in these packs of Jif To Go, the total number of peanut butter receptacles in my pantry would be 19. But I’m not counting them and I will stick with 11.
In my defense, my other peanut butter eater has recently moved out of my house.
We also have enough tea bags in our pantry to serve tea to everyone in our neighborhood. Oooh, a party idea! With our tea, we will need to make some kind of food that involves powdered sugar….we have LOTS of powdered sugar. But I digress…
As I reorganized and threw out and consolidated, I laughed at some of the things I found and was truthfully a little sickened at the excess. We have so much more than we need and yet, I keep buying more stuff and stuffing it in on top of the other stuff. I mean, don’t we always need more peanut butter and powdered sugar?
It also reminded me of a post that I wrote years ago, when I first started blogging and the follow up post that I wrote a few days later. I wrote that post about clutter in 2005 and here I am in 2012 still fighting my piles. I had really expected to have things a little more under control by now. 🙂
Really, let’s be honest, I am not ever going to have it all together. Not even a little. Right when I get one area of my life somewhat under control, something else pops loose. What’s that game…Whack a Mole?
I may be more consistent about exercising these days, but I still need to get the old videos organized and converted to DVD. I cleaned out the pantry, but my purse is a disaster. I did a good job of nurturing my relationship with my teenager this week, but I haven’t called my mother in weeks….and what about my best friend from high school who is going through a tough time….I should REALLY make time to call her. What kind of friend am I? The Thanksgiving basket is ready for delivery, but I’m not sure all the gifts are purchased to celebrate Christmas with my family next week. Oh, I probably need to run by Target…I always need to run by Target.
Whack, Whack, Whack….those damn moles are EVERYWHERE!
Let me talk to my girlfriends for a moment. Are we ever enough, ladies? At the end of the day, do we ever allow ourselves the freedom to say “job well done…maybe not perfect, but good enough.” There will always be more work to do, there will always be an area of our life that could use our attention. I know so many women who struggle with the perception that everyone else seems to have it “all together” in a way that they don’t. And so they always feel less than…not quite ok.
That, in my opinion, is a lie straight from the devil. God’s Word is very clear that our worth, our value, is in our identity as His precious children. In Christ, we are His and He loves us because we belong to Him. He loves us because He created us to love us and loving us makes His joy complete. Strengthened by that love and in gratitude for His grace, we are set free to choose obedience to Him as the better way. We are blessed to be a blessing and have the privilege of participating in the restoration of His Kingdom. In Him, we are enough.
Even when we don’t remotely have it all together or under control. Whatever that means.
Life is messy and beautiful. As one of my favorite blogger, Glennon says, much of this life is “brutiful.” On this adventure, I am finding that most people are doing the best they can, including me. The state of my heart is much more important than the cleanliness of my pantry or the relative length of my To Do list. Today, that is enough.
Still, I REALLY need to tackle that mismatched sock basket!
11/2015: Resurrected this one to join in #LiveFreeThursday. This week’s theme is “Everything I Own.” I remembered this post, among many, about taming the clutter. Welcome, new friends!
If you would call your mother sometime maybe she would attack the mismatched socks for you 🙂