You’ve heard of “The Running of the Bulls?” Well, every year about this time, I participate in the running of the bags. I have got to be the world’s most disorganized person. Every year…every single year…I swear that THIS year will be different. And every year, I write this same post. 

I’m pretty good for a few months. I keep track of things, I file papers where they belong, I download transactions and balance my checkbook. Then somewhere around June, life starts getting busy and things start going to heck in a hand basket. That’s when the tote bags come out of the closet.

One by one, the tote bags fill up with important papers, package inserts, instruction manuals, greeting cards, phone charging cords, receipts…you know, the flotsam and jetsam of life. This was especially a problem this past year because I was gone a full four months and Mr. FixIt was left the unenviable job of taking care of everything around here on his own. It was a lot to ask, and he did a great job.

I was home alone yesterday while Mr. FixIt helped our grandson and his family move. I took advantage of the time to dig into the sacks of detritus one the hunt for my new debit card. It will expire at the end of the month so I had to find it ASAP. I spread piles of papers all over the living room…sorting and tossing and organizing. The card wasn’t in any of the bags. 

I sat back and asked God to refresh my memory. I suddenly had a flash…I went back to our bedroom and lifted a sweater that was folded up and laying on the safe. And there it was…a small stack of mail I had moved off the bed when I was cleaning in there last month. I had totally forgotten it was there.

As I wound up my work for the day, I decided I’ve been going at this all wrong. I’ve been beating myself up, year after year, for being so disorganized. Then I realized…I was perfectly organized. I had every paper I needed all in one place. I had the opportunity to go through it and place it all in neat piles that can now be filed away. And now, everything is fresh in my mind for doing taxes. I’ll count that as a win!

See…it’s all a matter of how you look at things. If I look at it with a self-denigrating attitude, then I feel bad about myself. I feel inadequate and disorganized and lazy. But, if I look at it as keeping all the important things in one place so that when it’s time to do the important stuff with them, I’m on top of it. That makes me feel accomplished and capable and resourceful. 

We aren’t all gifted with a staff like Martha Stewart. We aren’t all capable of keeping color coded files all neat and tidy, day in and day out. Some of us are distracted by the sparklies. That’s what makes us interesting, right? I’ll keep working to become better at this because organization is actually biblical. I’ll also be a little nicer to myself when I don’t measure up to my own expectations.

❤️

“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”

1 Corinthians 14:40 NIV