Clutter

June 13, 2020

If aching muscles and creaky joints mean you’re alive, I don’t think I’ve ever been more alive than tonight. The day began fixing breakfast for ten hungry grandchildren, most of them teenagers, if that tells you anything. Then off to my son’s to help install the ceiling drywall, before delivering some lattice work to a friend who needed some. It was a blessing to both of us; to me by finally getting it out of my garage, and to him by saving him the expense of buying new. 

The afternoon and early evening was filled with cleaning the garage. For some, that would mean merely a minor tidying up. My garage is infamous. A minor tidying up wouldn’t even get through the first layer. Five hours’ work made a dent in it, but it will take another ten to really get things in order. Thus my aching muscles and creaky joints.

I’ve said more than once that the order (or lack thereof) in one’s external living space is a witness to the order (or lack thereof) in the inner habitation of the heart. I believe that. Physical clutter is indicative of inner spiritual and psychic clutter. The problem with clutter is that it is rarely noticeable to the one living in that space. It has become normal, and normal is invisible. For me, it’s not our home (Linda is fastidious about order); it’s my garage that reveals the state of my heart. I tend to put stuff where it’s convenient at the moment instead of where it belongs, and before long, stuff is just piled everywhere. A good garage cleaning is a lot of work, but worth it. A good heart cleaning is hard work, too, but even more necessary, because it’s not only where my soul dwells, it’s the dwelling place of God; we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

If you read the directions God gave Moses for the Tabernacle, you discover that there wasn’t much inside it. The bronze altar for sacrifices and the laver for washing were the only articles in the outer court. The Holy Place contained the altar of incense, the table for the Bread of the Presence, and the Menorah for light. Behind the curtain sat only the Ark of the Covenant. That’s it! No clutter, no stuff laying around. Which means, if I want to meet God, I need to de- clutter. Our God is a God of order. Today I participated in his ordering of life in a very pragmatic way. Though my body is sore, my soul is renewed, ready for the Order of Worship tomorrow.