Today my eyes alighted on the subject of an online article that I thought would be helpful to me. It was entitled “How to organise your home.” Joy filled my heart at the very thought of some more clever tips on how to get my house looking like a double spread in Country Living magazine (one of my favourite eye candy treats.)

But I was sorely disappointed. The guru in this article told me nothing new. There were no tips I had not tried and no ideas I had not already employed. Could it be then that there is nothing left to learn? No new gadget to employ, or habit to begin?

Possibly, yes.
So why is it that my bedroom somtimes looks like the Febreze advert? (The current one on TV where they send someone into what looks like a derelict drug dealers house furnished with dirty clothes and furniture from the nearest obliging skip.)

The answer is ME.
I am the answer to that question.

Whilst I know all about the “put it away, throw it away or give it away” policy that makes for a happy, tidy home, I sometimes wish someone would come in and do it for me. I find it SO hard to do it myself.

I am not a natural cleaner. I struggle to make things tidy and neat, UNLESS they belong to someone else, when I am ruthlessly marvellous and can whizz through their junk in a jiffy!
I look at MY clothes however, and think, “whilst it is clearly three sizes too small, I MAY lose some weight, so I’ll keep it – even though it is the colour of baby mucas and is a disgusting shape…Mustard may look better on me as I get more grey hair?”

There is something very theraputic about clearing the rubbish, sorting through the junk and cleansing the waste from our homes and our lives. I love being in a time of confession before God. (Well, thats not strictly true… I like the bit after I have been forgiven best.) In that moment the ordered shelves of my life gleam with purity and cleanliness, the surfaces sparkle with polish and the bin bags lie full and forgotten at the end of the drive. Bliss.

When was the last time you had a good hard look at your life and your habits and mindsets? When was the last time you checked whether or not what you are watching, reading or thinking was healthy?

I encourage you today to operate this policy in your hearts and homes
Put it away, throw it away, and give it away.

What do I mean?
Put away the past, the things that you did well that make you feel guilty now, or the things you did badly that make you feel guilty now.

Throw away the lies of the enemy that say you can never conquer the habit or pattern you are adopting right now. That is a LIE.
Give away yourself, your time and your life to God.
He will use it!

You might like to pray this prayer from the Anglican service book to help you:

O Lord our God,
you know us better than we know ourselves.
As we come before you now,
believers and doubters alike,
we all share a deep need,
for we are all lost without your grace.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts,
test us and know our troubled thoughts.
Give us true repentance.
Forgive us all our wrongs.
Transform us by your Spirit to live for you each day,
to learn to serve each other
and, through the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord,
to come at last to heaven. Amen.

Good to know you are loved and forgiven isn’t it?

Now, where is that binbag? I need to unearth that mustard monstrosity in my drawer and consign it to the bin.