Order. We hear that word and we immediately straighten up or begin to straighten up things that have fallen out of order in our minds. It can be a consistently broken schedule or an untidy home. It can start with a forgotten appointment and end with a catastrophic meltdown! We all have various things we want to put in order. We sometimes just get so burned out and overwhelmed that we don't know how. Without order, things, life can become quite chaotic. It can make it very difficult to feel productive, thus adding to our discouragements when it comes to creating a stable and loving environment in which our family thrives. The true danger of falling prey to an "out of order" lifestyle is that our entire house feels the effects! We are not able to give our best and eventually become burned out and (I've used this word before) unavailable. It can become an unwanted crisis, an energy sucking monster that drains us of much needed time (that we obviously don't already have). Even worse, it effects our spirits, darkening us from the inside out until we do something about it!
When I was a young girl, I remember my grandmother raring up this tune in Prayer Meetings. In her old country church nestled deeply in the woods of Council, North Carolina, the sound was deep and rich as she belted it straight from her soul. It rang and echoed throughout the sanctuary and in my young, trusting ears, "You'd better put our house in order!" I often get bogged down and somehow out of sync. In these moments, my journey becomes very difficult. I can't seem to get the laundry completed or my youngest son adds to the mess before I can clean it up. My much needed morning devotion and prayer sometimes gets run over with me sleeping in. I'm pushing deadlines and waiting until the last minute to do everything. Dishes somehow pile up faster than I can load the dishwasher, and an invoice needs to be sent out or an e-mail needs to be responded to. Phone calls need to be made and soccer games attended to. The hubby needs time and attention and dinner is not prepared. Did I mention time for my very own self??? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Doesn't that make you scream, then laugh hysterically? That's what I do! When it all comes down I begin to laugh because I know that tensing up and stressing out will not make things better.
I regroup, I embrace silence, I cut off everything - tv, music, computers and even silence my cell phone (sometimes, really?). I meditate on that dear scripture, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33. I believe that in that quiet time in which I put everything aside, and seek God, my attention is turned to perfection in Him, His son Jesus Christ and away from me. It is then that He adds what I need, and He puts things in order, one task at a time. That beloved passage has brought me peace right dead in the middle of a storm! I used to put my hands in it and try to fix it all. I now stop everything and focus on the One who created me. I come to Him with a heart of thanksgiving and don't leave His feet until He is done rebuilding me and strengthening me with His love. My journey to order then begins with a fresh new insight from the One who created me and put this entire world together in the very first order ever! He made the world in (drum roll).... seven days! Surely He can teach me to put my home, my schedule and my family's schedule in order better than any calendar, planner or self-help book (we run to those often). His timing is incredible and completes what takes us years to do in only a moment. Seek Him 1st. Put everything down when you feel overloaded and be still. Wait. Listen. Wait some more. When He speaks, then you move. Your journey to order begins with the God of all creation who created all of us in His "divine order."
