messy house = messy heart

I notice this trend.  When my house is a mess, my head is also a mess.   When my head is a mess, my heart is a mess.  So….

It’s time to clean my house!

I’ve said it a million times and even blogged about it here – I cannot stand clutter.  I don’t like clutter in my house, in my head, or in my heart.  Sometimes, the clutter in my heart is difficult to organize and clean-up real quick like.  Some things just take time to pray through which makes my heart messy while the dust settles.  Sometimes I cannot control those things that make my heart messy – like when someone else does the messing-up, but I can control my house which helps clean-up my head, which helps clean-up my heart eventually.  IMHO, a messy heart manifests itself in all of us in one way or another; sometimes a messy house, sometimes excess weight, sometimes excessive partying, or other addictive behaviors (even obsessive working out), etc. 

Does this make sense?  When my heart is messy, I am looking for comfort somewhere/somehow.  Often that starts with dumping junk all over my dining room table.  (Actually, I think it starts with the shoe rug in the laundry room.  Hmmm…)  “Things” just start piling up and up and up and become such a mess to the point where I feel physically uncomfortable and irritable in my own home!  YIKES!!!  Then I get cranky and my heart issues turn into more heart issues and then I come unglued or I eat crappy foods.  Whatever happens - it’s never good. 

There is a calmness for me that comes from an orderly home.  Order allows me space to think. To breathe. To be. To pray. To get back to myself. 

So, as I clean my house, my head feels cleaner and more orderly, and my heart… well, for now, that will follow.  But that’s OK.  God is taking his time with me right now and showing me all sorts of nooks and crannies that need to be cleaned in my heart and teaching me new tools to clean with.  Like this - straight from the Good Book:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me.” ~ Psalm 51:10 NLT      

Our real cleansing comes from within.  For me, though, it’s hard to get inside (my heart) without also organizing the outside (my head and my home). 

So, when you come to my house and it’s a disaster, please ask me about the condition of my heart.  There is usually a story there.