Tidying Up…
With all the cultural challenges we have been navigating over the last decade, you may have missed one refreshing entry into the “collective consciousness” – Marie Kondo. In 2014, Marie Kondo’s first book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” quickly became a bestseller. She followed that up with “Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up” in 2016, but it was two Netflix series in 2019 and later 2021 which has pushed her name, and her brand, into the stratosphere.
In these shows, people welcome Kondo into their homes and ask for her help with the physical messes in their lives. She brings what some have described as “‘life-changing magic’” and, as one reporter relays, her effect on others “is transformative, and that’s because her attitude is rooted in empathy rather than in judgment or a prescriptive approach to outward appearances.”[1] Somehow, this approach leads others to engage in the overwhelming task of going through their “stuff,” discovering treasures and sharing items that no longer hold meaning, value or purpose to them. They declutter not as just another task on their “to-do list,” but to celebrate things in their lives that bring them joy and to release other belongings that no longer have meaning or purpose.
Since I seldom watch Netflix, I have missed seeing this organizational genius in action, but having read a lot about Marie Kondo’s techniques, I am also reminded of the need not just a physical tidying up, but for spiritual tidying up as well — a spiritual decluttering needed in my life.
And what about yours?
What are those habits, opinions, thoughts-processes or beliefs that might need to be reexamined? Do they still serve a purpose that is life-giving to us and others? Or do they just “clutter” our life, getting in the way of living into our true identity as beloved of God? Can we show gratitude for those things that helped us grow into maturity, but now prevent us from growing into the full stature of Christ?
As we near the end of the Easter season, how can we continue to live a resurrected life in Christ? Perhaps a spiritual “tidying” up might be in order, a “decluttering” of our interior lives so that more room could be made for Christ.
