Clutter

Isn’t it interesting how clutter begins? A paper that isn’t filed…a book not put back in place…some mail that was put aside for ‘later’…pieces of paper with random notes…magazines that weren’t put away…notes that were used and not put back in the folder…days go by, weeks, and I procrastinate putting things away. And before you know it, there’s hardly space on my desk to do work. And as I keep putting off clearing my desk, the tension and stress builds as the clutter accumulates until one day I can’t bear it and I spend a few hours sorting things out and putting everything away, making my desk a delight to behold again.

Isn’t emotional/spiritual clutter the same? A word spoken in anger that isn’t followed by reconciliation… a simple misunderstanding that isn’t cleared up…a relationship in which fidelity at communication has more or less stopped… seemingly small things add up and then before you know it, there’s this giant wall to scale. And then it has to take a huge event to send you scrambling to ‘spring clean’ the relationship. But the accumulated clutter is hard to clear, and when you desperately need the clarity you seek, such major repairs are especially hard to do. This is true of all relationships, of course, but its effects are especially pronounced when it happens to the most vital relationship in your life. And this is particularly true when the Other is God. Housekeeping is vital, it seems, in more than one area in life. And my habit of procrastination has once again given me more work than was absolutely necessary. It’s time for some major spring cleaning. And until all things are put into their proper places again, I suppose this sense of tentativeness and flux is something I have to live with. Hopefully, as with my desk, the time will come soon when I can again experience joy and peace in this Relationship. And one hopes that this time, I shall do a better job of keeping clutter at bay. :P