Spring Cleaning (part II)

I’ve been watching YouTube videos of the Minimal Mom and she often talks about ‘decision fatigue’, ‘silent to-do lists’, and the idea that we are not really ‘behind’, but that we are right in line with whatever our current ‘capacity’ and season of life allows.

Far too many times I’ve found myself crying while listening to her videos as I do chores around the home. For one, she does get emotional at times because she sincerely cares about people, and the sound of someone’s voice choking up can easily set me off crying.

But the majority of the time I find myself crying because she’s verbalizing so much of what I have not allowed myself to think, to feel, or to express. The jumbled rush of emotions and thoughts about ‘I am not the only one!’, ‘I’ve been feeling so lonely and didn't know why!’, and then ‘I am not alone!’ is an overwhelming and unexpected experience as I’m folding laundry listening to a video about clutter.

(Yes, it can be a pathetic picture, and my husband has walked in on it and asked 'Are you crying?!' Followed by, 'Because of me?!' As long as he's not the cause he's okay with the crying and will move along.)

We surround ourselves with so many distractions, so much noise and stuff, so much activity and busyness in an attempt to drown out the realness of reality. All the hustle and bustle are attempts to build up self-protective walls that we hang compliments, long to-do lists with check marks, and full calendars on to convince ourselves and others that we have value, that we are not a waste of space, and that our very existence is being justified.

The Minimal Mom’s moment that opened her mind to the idea of minimalism was the simple comment, ‘You don’t need all this stuff.’ After decades of passively hearing and seeing nonstop marketing telling her otherwise, this ridiculously simple truth completely transformed her perspective on stuff, marketing, and the idea of necessity. 'You don't need all this stuff.' freed her from her bondage.

I wrote last week about Christian women constantly feeling the heavy burden of their work never being done. Its weight is multiplying at a ridiculous rate, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Even just sensing the heaviness itself is an additional pressure because we know in our heads that Jesus said He would give us rest, that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. We know that this is not how it’s supposed to be, that God’s Word is true, and that He keeps all His promises. God’s not the one messing it up, so I must be the one messing it up! (Just keep heaping the burdens upon burdens!)

We don’t know what to do to correct it, and we’re too ashamed to ask for help. So we keep doing more and trying harder, and Thoreau’s famous quote, ‘The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.’ rings more and more true.

“And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:16

You don’t need to do more.

You don’t need to be trying harder.

What you need, what I need, is “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ the surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19

What we need is to grow in our experiential knowledge of our identity in Christ Jesus.

How does such growth happen? What does it look like?

The Minimal Mom gives the suggestion of 'body doubling' to get over the many hurdles in our way of decluttering, so I'm going to attempt a similar idea with my own 'spring cleaning' for the month of May.

I'll be praying for my dear sisters-in-Christ as I share weekly my progress, pitfalls, and pauses.

The first step is humbling myself, and confessing to myself, to others, and most importantly to my Father, 'I can't do it myself.' I am throwing out all the mental clutter that challenges this truth. 'I CAN do it myself.' has been my mantra for longer than I can remember...so this will take time, effort, and God's supernatural power to purge and cleanse it all from my mind.

I can't do it myself.

-for glory to God alone (Soli Deo gloria)