The pointed life is about all the different parts of our life lining up in the same direction. That direction is pointed toward our life’s purpose.

“All the independent things in your life–the items you own, how you spend your time, the relationships you cultivate, and the books you read, ultimately benefit your life’s purpose. There is no clutter. Your hours and days reflect your priorities and so does the space in which you live.” Tsh, Organized Simplicity

I spent the Saturday before Christmas moving stuff. Stuff I don’t even like. Stuff that’s in the way. Stuff, that by taking up space is taking away time from me, from my husband from my family, from God. It shouldn’t be.

I am tired of moving clutter from one storage place to another. I am tired of clutter devouring time. I am tired of allowing clutter to take energy and devotion away from the things that matter. I am tired of clutter taking away my peace.

There are too many toys for my kids to keep tidy. There are too many dishes that fill the cabinets, dishwasher, and sink at the same time. There are too many clothes cascading out of the dirty laundry basket and all over the floor, and clean ones filling to overflowing counter space in the laundry room, the washer and dryer, the dressers, and the closets.

Time is the most precise commodity we have. Once it is gone we never, ever get it back. It’s so easy to squander. We cannot control time. We cannot stop time. It passes without our permission, and most often without our awareness. But, for most of the time we are given, we can decide how to spend it.

Organizing excessive clutter is not how I want to spend it any more. This rant is not without purpose. I had to get to the point that I got frustrated enough to say, enough is enough, and then do something about it. I am.

Decluttering a home is a process. I often think of the answer to, how do you eat an elephant? The answer is one bite at a time. Who would eat an elephant?

Well, that’s not the point. The point is the task is monumental and seems impossible to surmount. The thing is, it is possible. Decluttering a home is possible and purposeful. It takes one step at a time, a little planning, some consistency, and a whole lot of letting go.

Sometimes there is guilt or emotional attachment to things that make it hard to let go. When things begin to devalue your life, rather than add value to it, then it is time to let them go.

I love this quote from William Morris, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” 

When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar.

I want to choose now to make my home a haven that can serve my family’s desires and dreams. I don’t waste any more time enslaving myself as its servant. There is simply too much life still to live and only so much time to live it.

This is a continuation of a focus on PURGING: Ridding our lives of all that weigh us down. Read on. . .

How do we keep with it? How do we keep with anything that is worth fighting for?

I have had the flu. It has been an especially challenging week. I could not have made it through without the support and love from my husband, who also happened to have the flu. It was the worst kind, they say, the Type A flu. I do not remember ever being in so much pain that even my skin hurt. I wish it on no one.

Laying down most of the week has given me time to think, pray, and seek. The Lord has been ministering to my heart the last few days that I have been recovering.

He keeps saying, “Be careful this does not become about all that you can do, rather than all that I can do. Be careful this does not become more about doing for me, than about seeking Me.”

And this can be anything we endeavor to do for the glory of God, including healthy living.

“Not in your own strength, for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you energizing and creating in you the power and desire, both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” Phil 2:13 AMP

I leave with you with just a few practical tips that I think can apply for almost every area of your life that you hope to shape and point toward your God-given purpose.

Seek God.
Write goals.
Plan ahead.
Hold all plans loosely.
Allow yourself a rest day.
Seek God.
Focus on what you should do,
rather what you should not.
Discover what works for
your body and personality.
Seek God.
Keep your why in front of you.
Be accountable.
Make space in your life for it.
Begin again.
Allow God to give you strength
for what you are struggling to do.

And, seek God.

This is a continuation of a focus on PURGING: Ridding our lives of all that weigh us down. Read on. . .