FIRST STEPS

"Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me." Psalm 119:133

I am constantly trying to get myself and my life organized but I've never been able to achieve this desired state in all areas simultaneously. I would like have peace and order around me. So I focus on organizing my home, cleaning, decluttering. Of course, about the time my bedroom is beginning to shape up and no longer looking like a cross between a thrift shop and a breeding ground for dust bunnies, the basement has taken on the foreboding air of the nether regions. I set out to clean up and organize closets one at a time -- before I get finished with the last, the first is again vomiting its contents each time someone is brave enough to open it. We have too much stuff. So I go on a flinging spree, taking bags of our excess to the Thrift Shop, putting some things out by the road with a "FREE" sign affixed (it's amazing how fast stuff disappears this way!). At times I expend so much energy trying to order my home that I don't have anything left for other more important areas in my life.

I notice I am not the only person striving and stuggling in this area, either. People all around me say the same things about not having enough time for all they want and need to do; not having enough space for all their "stuff". Books upon books about organizing, decluttering, and simplifying our lives have been published. Magazines with titles like Real Simple clog our magazine racks. (Has anyone written Simplifying for Simpletons yet?) Websites abound addressing the same. Apparently, none of these have provided the ultimate solution to the chaos and clutter that seems to rule our lives these days.

God wrote a book that does provide us with a blueprint for ordering our lives because He desires this for us because He is a god of order and design, not chaos and confusion. This morning the Lord spoke to me during my quiet time through this simple verse in Psalm 119 -- "Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me." This speaks of ordering our steps according to God's Word to us. When the Bible is foundational in our lives, it guides how we think and act, it sets our priorities in all areas. Ordering my life by applying God's Word makes things go more smoothly, not just in my home but in my relationships, our homeschooling, our finances.

I realize ordering my life is another one of those ongoing, life-long processes that will never be fully completed until God calls me home. I need to ask Him to show me areas in my life that need change and to guide me in making those changes. And may the decisions I make bring glory and honor to Him.