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June 6, 2008
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Clutter, by Larry Davies
"I found your office looking on the internet," a relative said when we
were visiting my wife's home town."
"Oh really," I answered, wondering why she would be so interested?
"We've never had a chance to visit your church so I decided to check it
out online. Your sanctuary is beautiful and the family life center is
interesting but have you seen your office?" she pressed on.
"Actually, I haven't. Why do you ask?" Now, I was really curious. What
was her point?
"I made a copy for you. Maybe you should take a peek." She said with a
mischievous grin.
Preserved in glossy 8 by 11 Technicolor was my office in all it's ...
(gulp) glory? Maybe a better word would be extreme clutter or disaster
area or "this site should be condemned" or maybe a bomb crater? Papers
were strewn all over my desk. You could hardly see my computer for the
mess. A lamp shade was tilted at 45 degree angle. In the background
were pictures, books and old mementos scattered all about.
I was embarrassed, ashamed and yes humiliated. I knew something needed
to be done but it wouldn't be right to eliminate my entire family?
Would it? Okay, get serious Larry, but something needed to be done.
Clutter often involves more than just our office. Chuck Swindoll in his
book, "So, You Want to Be Like Christ?" writes a chapter on
"Simplicity, Uncluttering our Minds." At one point Chuck shares five
steps toward achieving a cluttered mind. As I read each statement, I
was forced to declare myself: Guilty!
1. Say yes every time someone asks you to do something.
2. Don't plan any time for leisure and rejuvenation.
3. Don't be satisfied with your accomplishments -- keep moving.
4. Max out your credit cards beyond what you can repay.
5. Acquire all the latest technology so you can simplify your life.
Yes, I say "Yes!" far too often.
Yes, I plan very little time for leisure and rejuvenation.
Yes, I am seldom satisfied with my accomplishments. I do keep moving.
Yes, I've taken on too much debt this year.
Are you caught in the gales of a cluttered lifestyle?
Yes, I've often acquired the latest technology hoping for a simpler
life only to find myself maintaining yet another gadget.
Where does it all end? I confess! I am also guilty of a cluttered mind
and a cluttered life.
Max Lucado wrote:
We are a nation that believes in having it all. In 1950 American
families owned one car and saved for a second. In 2000 nearly 1 in
5 families owned three cars or more ... Americans shell out more
for garbage bags than 90 of the world's 210 countries spend for
everything. In 1900 the average person living in the US wanted 72
different things and considered 18 of them essential. Today the
average person wants 500 things and considers over 100 of them
essential. (From "Cure for the Common Life.")
Our prosperity however carries a hefty price tag. Most of us feel the
stress of a hectic, cluttered lifestyle.
The apostle Paul wrote:
I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. For I
promised you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ. But I fear
that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple
devotion to Christ, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent. You
seem to believe whatever anyone tells you ... (2 Corinthians 11:2-3
NASB).
When our lives are cluttered we can more easily be led astray.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote a beautiful poem that begins:
One ship drives east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow:
'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales,
Which tells us the way to go.
Two ships driven by the wind, yet one stays on course. Are you sailing
where you desire or are you caught in the gales of a cluttered
lifestyle? The answer is found in the word: simplify. We must learn to
simplify our lives. The reward is a life less complicated, not more
entangled. You will have more time, not less. And the fruit is the
opportunity to enjoy a long-lasting, satisfying, rewarding, intimate
relationship with almighty God.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From Larry's book, "Live the Light".
---------
(c) 2008 Larry Davies < LarryDavies@SowingSeedsofFaith.com>,
Sowing Seeds of Faith <http://www.sowingseedsoffaith.com>.
RELATED LINKS:
* The Clutter of Activity
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200706/20070626_clutter.html
* Weed, Water, and Share!
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200508/20050824_weed.html
* Uncluttering
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200801/20080119_uncluttering.html
* Sowing Seeds of Faith
http://www.sowingseedsoffaith.com
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200806/20080606_clutter.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
WILD AT HEART, by John Eldredge
Helping men rediscover their masculine heart, this is a guide to
understanding Christian manhood and Christian men.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?153
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