Finding the Value

We are trying to get ready to put our house on the market next week and this seems like a momentous task to me. Perhaps because my gifts lie more in the areas of creating messes rather than cleaning them up. There is not enough coffee or Melanie Shankle books at the end of the tunnel to make me feel energized about cleaning out a closet. There are moments when I think purging is fun. But two minutes later, as a I look around at the PILES of stuff I now have to make decisions about (garage sale?? keep for this year?? worth storing while we move to a different continent??), and I begin to hyperventilate, I have to wonder about the sanity of people who "organize for fun". Like perhaps those people also enjoy getting a root canal. Or swimming in shark infested waters. There are things that are simply not fun in this world, and those are at the top of the list. Right underneath "organizing".  I realize I did a 140 mile race "for fun" which may cause some to question my judgment.... But that is totally different and was actually fun. Unlike sorting through 500 Polly Pocket pieces. Excuse me while I scrape my eyeballs out.

It is just hard for me to find the eternal value in making sure that bookshelf is decluttered. Don't give me the excuse that I am creating beauty for my family and helping them to be happy, peaceful and organized. Instead I have successfuly raised my kids to be ok with chaos. You're welcome society. I will launch three kiddos into the world to be super nice people who love Jesus with their whole heart but who don't know how to correctly fold a towel. And that's ok. Because this missionary thing is incredibly lucrative so they can hire someone for that. Or not. That might be the moment when being super nice will come in handy for them. They can become friends with someone whose Mama was an organizing rockstar. While telling them that I taught them how to sing really loudly and hilariously lip sync for our dog. Please don't be jealous of what an awesome Mom I am.

Thankfully, as I'm trying to think through an organizational system for rainbow loom bands.... Seriously, does such a thing exist?!? They. Are. Everywhere. My crazy brain circles back around to why I am doing this... and it calms me down. There are people who have never heard about Jesus. And we get to go make sure they have a chance to hear. But first we have to empty our lives of stuff and mortgages and possessions so that we can make that happen. And when I focus my mind on that- it does light the end of the tunnel for me. Because my kids may not know how to fold towels, but they will have a heart for seeking the lost. Their world view will expand and they will realize that life is not about who has the cutest skinny jeans, but that God's eternal plan is huge and unfathomable and he wants us to be active participants in it. But we have to let the things that tie us to this world grow dim. So I will put on a second pot of coffee and dive back in to this momentous task because it turns out there is eternal value in it after all. And a trash bag waiting for rogue rainbow loom bands.