Tag Archives: Home

Light in a Window

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In blue twilight you walk,
The cold seeping in.

Walking forever,
Each moment the sky darker.

Quickening your step,
Searching for sanctuary.
For solace.
For something.

Only hill after hill greet you.
Each one steeper.
Lonelier.
Colder than the last.

You climb.
You crawl.
You cave.

On the ground.
Feet too heavy to go on.
Too dark to see anyone.
Are your eyes open or closed?
You can’t tell.
Snow falls down,
Covers your face.
It’s over.

And then.
Then.

You see it- the golden glow:
Light in a window.

Light in your window.

Home.

A Tidy Series + Counters

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Hello Friends!

When I recently announced my home organizing business, so many of you sent encouraging notes and offered support. I am so grateful!

Continuing the decluttering conversation, I now want to offer you a gift: A Tidy Series.
As we journey to love our homes more each day, here are some practical steps to get there. Sprinkled here and there among my regular devotional writing, I hope they inspire you today. Enjoy!

*     *     *     *     *     *

Counters.

This is where we start.

The catch-all for our clutter, for the things we are too tired to put away, for the things we don’t know where to put.

Before we know it, our counters look like this:

Help!I know this to be true because that’s my counter. Pre-decluttering.

The counter held my oil diffuser (which I use once a week), baby Tylenol, vitamins, honey (which I didn’t want to put in the pantry because I was paranoid it’d sticky everything up!), bananas, bread, coffee maker (for the dark side drinker in our family…I only believe in tea!), and other miscellaneous items.

It was so annoying! Every time I baked, I longed for a clear counter. Yet I settled for working around all the stuff.

But…then I started decluttering! And what a difference it made.

AhhhhhDecluttering the space was actually easy once I got started. I don’t know why I put it off for so long!

Following one of the best tidying principles, I got rid of the clutter by putting everything in its proper place.

The diffuser and coffee maker now fit snugly in the cabinets above. Aren’t they so happy together? 🙂

Happy TogetherI put the medicine and vitamins away in their respective cabinets, out of baby’s reach.

Out of Baby's ReachAnd I gathered my sticky honey and other sugary things onto a pretty blue plate I have been wanting to use more anyway. Now my counter is clear and my pantry stays clean. Yay.

Clean and TidyFinally, I stored the bread and bananas and miscellaneous food items in the pantry/fridge.

I love my new spacious counter! It makes baking so much more enjoyable and I love walking by and seeing my pretty blue willow china.

Blue WillowI don’t have the fanciest kitchen- some our rental house cabinets are loose and patched together. But creating an open space gives a sense of luxury- and enables me to better see the things I DO LOVE. Like my pretty china.

And having a clear work space inspires my to have more clear spaces throughout our home. Clear space attracts clear space.

What about you? Do you have a counter that makes you cringe whenever you pass by? Why not set the microwave timer for 20 minutes today and commit to clearing out as much stuff as you can in that short time?

It will make baking those scones even more enjoyable. 🙂

Until next time!

E

Thoughts on Things

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Thoughts on Things

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:3

I get a happy feeling when I declutter. A feeling like no other (except perhaps when I write). It starts in my toes and goes all the way to my heart where it flutters and buzzes. I love to tidy. 🙂

Yes. I know I am fully a nerd that way. But as I embark on a little business to help others declutter, I have been pondering my philosophy of order. Why do I love it so much?
I think I have discovered the reason.

The home is our own special kingdom, a sacred place we get to manage. Whether a mansion, hut, or rented studio room, God gives us our own “plot of earth” to steward. What delight, what joy, what training can come as we put our hands to this gladsome task! Toddlers may conspire, dust and grime encroach- but still what a joy that we have a plot! As children of a King, who has a kingdom, I believe there is an innate desire in us to have domain, to rule a place. And the first and happiest place we get to rule? Our own space.

And ruling our space well brings many happy results.

If we want lives we love, then, as much as it depends on us, only have those things we love in our lives. Perhaps we can’t donate our annoyingly loud neighbor to the Goodwill or fix every messy situation, but we can push back on the crush of stuff in our homes. And that can bring peace and control in whatever situation we find ourselves.

Being tidy and having uncluttered space empowers us to move through the other rooms of our lives with confidence. We learn discernment both in the choice of our physical things and in the choice of our lives’ work. We don’t need to pay a seminar fee or attend a conference to learn these lessons. All this training can take place in our own home.
What joy!

We aren’t perfect (can anyone say yard work?!!), but every day we get better. We get better at home.

The Laundry

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The Laundry
The hamper is never empty
Because our lives are always full.

Full.

The grass streaks = playing at the park
The milk spit-up= sweet baby snuggles
The grease stains= how hard he works for us
The chocolate drips= yummy ice-cream dribbling down her chin
The spaghetti sauce= squeals of delight while squishing noodles

I plan and strategize and map out ways.
Ways to empty that hamper.

But they never fully work.
The clothes pile up like breeding bunnies-
Beyond belief before my eyes.

I sigh.
I groan.
And kick that hamper.

But then…I remember.

The hamper is never empty
Because our lives are so blessedly full.

Prime Real Estate

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3,500 square feet.
Vintage oak beams.
Granite counters and great rooms.
Great Rooms.
What makes a room so great anyway?
(The people in it.)

4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms.
Hand brushed nickel.
Vaulted ceilings and prime location.
Prime Location.
What makes a location so prime anyway?
(The proximity to love.)

This potluck of plaster and stone and beams.
This place for which we sweat and bleed and break our backs.
This image we strive for in living display.
A blessing.
But always remember- people make a home.