Angels dwell here

Tidying up is your soul, too

I love decorating for Christmas and start as early as I possibly can. I keep things up into the middle of January. In the middle of a gray and cold winter, all the sparkling lights lift my spirit, and the decorations keep alive the values, stories and memories of connection with the sacred.

But at New Year's I felt a strong desire for simplicity. I packed up the Christmas things early and began looking around my house for ways to eliminate clutter and create more serenity. Perhaps it's a reaction to the chaos and unrelenting stress of the news cycle, or a wish to control whatever I CAN control. But it's also a sign that my inner life needs simplification.

Years ago I read a phrase in an Edgar Cayce book about making your home a place "where angels love to dwell." This winter I did not feel that either my physical home or my inner soul home was a place where angels would love to dwell, and I wanted to do something about it.

Marie Kondo wrote a book titled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up that became my guide. There are several key principles of tidying up that I find very spiritual. A first step is to find every top in all your closets and drawers and put them in a pile on your bed. When I did this, I was confronted with my materialism. I was shocked at how much I have and embarrassed when I think of how little others might have.

Next, go through each item and ask if it sparks joy. If yes, keep it. If no, thank it for its service and bless it as you pass it on to someone else who might get joy from it. This is spiritual work. I believe that God wants us to live a life of joy and to share joy with others, so first we must learn how to know what brings us joy. The simple act of holding up a shirt and sensing if you feel a spark of joy is a wonderful self-awareness practice. Saying goodbye and thanking an item is also an important spiritual practice. It might seem silly to say thank you to a shirt, but you'd be amazed at the feelings it evokes, and the peaceful sense of closure that can arise.

As a result of these practices with material objects, and the sense of serenity as the clutter disappears and space opens up, I ask myself similar questions with projects, commitments and groups I belong to. "Does this spark joy?" "Would someone else feel more joy than I do if they took my place in this project?" "Would I feel more joy if I had more space in my life?" And most importantly, "Is my house and my soul a place where angels love to dwell?"

NAN Religion on 02/16/2019

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