First Baptist Church of Herndon

Baby Steps

Linda Soller | Jan 26, 2015

So we are closing on the month of January, and we have thoroughly covered the topic of cleaning up for the New Year, or have we? Let’s dive in to the topic of clutter. Do not hit the delete key or close your browser! I have never actually known a person who didn’t have some form of clutter in their life, although I have met a few who managed it better than most. The reason you need to keep reading is because I may have found a solution for you. It’s called a baby. If you don’t have a baby that is in the nine month to fourteen month range in your family, maybe you can borrow one for an hour or two. Really, it doesn’t take long. You put the baby down on the floor, and I promise you they will go straight for everything they shouldn’t touch, and everything that could possibly hurt them. They have an instinct, and they are very efficient in identifying the “no, no” items. I suggest you hydrate before you start this process because you will be jumping up and down, picking up the baby, moving them to another spot, and then picking them up again. The more animated you become the more they seem to find humor in the process. It will be exhausting and it may be a good idea to only tackle one room at a time. While this goes on you will either need to mark the items of concern or remember them. You can use post-it notes, but the baby will want those. Once the baby has had time to fully investigate the space, if possible, you can send the baby home. If you are dealing with the baby’s home, well, eventually they will sleep, and you will be able to tackle the hall closet which currently holds nearly all of your small possessions. That is baby step one.

Baby step two is to look around your room and study those marked items. Ask yourself if you need them, and therefore need to find them a new home, or would it be easier to let go, and remove them from your house. There will be some things where neither answer works, a stone hearth for example, and in those cases you start looking for damage control options. This can be a painful step because it makes you, face your clutter issues, and place values on your things. How much value does that vase from the yard sale, which fits perfectly on your end table, really have? If you are like me, part of the problem is that your current abode has never been baby proofed so there are many details which prior to this process hadn’t even crossed your mind, a stone hearth for example. But you can do it, and you will start to make judgments that help you de-clutter. Warning One: You may need to repeat steps one and two in the same room, or every other room of your house. In the meantime you may want to invest in a few baby gates. Warning Two: You will need to repeat the process, borrowing a fifteen month old to three year old baby will help. These babies seem to grow regularly and their arms and legs reach on forever. Warning Three: Do not confuse all the clutter you remove with all the clutter you will add if the baby is in your family. Unfortunately their stuff is off limits, it’s in the fine print.

Your life and your faith can become cluttered just like your rooms. Over time you have added activities, and knowledge, and dreams. Some of those things have dropped out of your life due to neglect or a change of heart, still your life is full and your faith may seem complete, when it’s actually acting as a place holder, much like your yard sale vase. Or like the remote lost under the clutter on your coffee table, if you aren’t careful your core values and faith can be hidden by your obligations and interruptions. What can you do? Surely there’s no baby that can fix this problem, or is there? When something new enters your world you need to think of it like a baby. The new opportunity, the new interest, a request for your time, a real baby, or whatever, can show you the way, if you let it. Example: You see a need, and your heart is telling you to volunteer in the community, but your head says there is no time. Baby step one is to look at how you currently spend your time. Baby step two is taking those items that get in the way of living your faith, your dreams, and the life God has planned for you, and moving the obstacles out of the way. Some can be saved for another time, and yes, you may have to just let go of others. This can be sad or painful at times, but it can also be liberating. You may have to revisit your internal room again every so often. We humans tend to allow our routines to become our ruts. Don’t let the New Year get too far along before you take time to check out your internal clutter. Don’t let that dream escape, that person continue to live in neglect, that private time with God drop off your to do list. Make a stand, find your balance, and then move forward, one baby step at a time.

Have a great week!  :o)  Linda