Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Confessions of a “Clutter-holic”

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WHEN WE SUFFER FROM clutter-holic syndrome, our lives are marked by mediocrity, haphazardness, and putting out needless fires.

Think you might have a mild case of that? Maybe a few questions will help prime the pump of self-analysis:

Do you often lose things?

Are you usually late for appointments and meetings?

Do you put off doing your homework until late?

Are you a time waster?

Is your reading limited to only the essentials rather than heavier works?

Are you prompt in paying bills and answering mail?

Is your attire attractive? Things match? Clothing pressed? Shoes shined?

Many unfinished projects lying around?

Does your desk stay cluttered? How about the tops of tables and counters?

Is your car washed?

Stab, stab. Twist, twist. Even though those questions hit below the belt, they reveal the pulse of your efficiency heartbeat. Before you get all hot and bothered, fearing some plan only an efficiency expert with a master's in business could pull off, relax. Life is too busy to add some unrealistic program.

Take a few moments to reflect on Solomon's metaphor of the lazy person:

I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense. I saw that it was overgrown with nettles. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

PROVERBS 24:30–34

Time to stop ignoring the issue and get on with a plan to put things back on track. You know what to do. Stop putting it off. Even for another day. Make a list. Keep it simple and attainable. Then ask the Lord to help you. Everything will fall very nicely into place. Take your time . . . you have a ways to go.