I am reorganizing my office space.
Correction: I am organizing my office space. Something can’t be re-organized unless it’s been organized to begin with. And since I’m not like all of you perfectly left-brained, linear thinkers out there who have a place for everything and everything in its place, I’ve decided to get some help.
I’ve hired a professional organizer.
Yes, I did.
This is proving to be the bargain of the century for me, because my new friend isn’t just helping me put things neatly into boxes to hide in the garage. I could do that. Have done that, too many times. No, my organizing lady is talking to me, learning about my personality, and trying to figure out what will work best for me.
For example, we’ve learned that drawers aren’t a good organizing tool for me. At least not when it comes to filing. My past file drawer has consisted of a pile of papers I knew I needed to keep, but didn’t have a place for. So they got stuffed and crammed and wrinkled into a drawer. Then, it was “out of sight, out of mind.”
Our conversation went something like this:
Her: How do you find stuff?
Me: I take everything out and go through the pile. I know what’s in there. I just have to dig through and find it.
Her: Why don’t you put things in folders?
Me: Because then I inevitably put stuff in the wrong folder, and I’ll never see it again. Besides, I can never make folders stand up like they’re supposed to, and they fall down in the drawer.
Her: What about hanging folders?
Me: I loathe hanging folders. Stuff gets in between, where there’s not actually a folder, and slides to the bottom of the drawer, and I never see it again.
I could tell I was a challenge to her. But hey, there’s no point setting up a system that’s not going to work in the long run, is there? Together, we’re coming up with a plan that I think will actually work for me.
One of the most exciting things she’s making me do though, is moving all my handwritten addresses from my spiral-bound, polka-dotted address book to a computer program I have, that organizes contacts. This program was in my computer when I bought it four years ago, but I never took the time to learn how to use it. It’s just been sitting there, waiting to be accessed, while I’ve been scrambling to find that little pink-and-blue dotted address book every time I needed it. Then I had to sort through all the mark-outs and address changes, and search through the alphabetized list that wasn’t really alphabetized, because how do you really keep things in ABC order in one of those books?
I mean, really. I can’t say to my friends, “I’m sorry, Mr. Abdo. I can’t take your number. I’ve already written Mr. Applebaum’s information, and there’s no room above his name.” No. You just add the name below the previous one, and you have all the ABC’s on one page and all the DEF’s on the next. And then somebody gets married and changes their name, or they move and change their address, and before you know it the whole book is a big, scratched out mess.
But now, all my addresses are neat and organized alphabetically in my computer. And I don’t have to insert them alphabetically; it does that for me. And any time there’s a change, I just have to click on that person’s name and edit the info.
And since my computer is always on my desk, I don’t have to go searching for it the way I did the address book. Any time I need an address or phone number, I know right where to go. Plus, this program will sync to my laptop and phone, so I have the information all the time. But I’m still figuring out how to sync . . .
My point is, I’ve had this wonderful tool sitting in my computer all this time, and I haven’t been taking advantage of it. Instead I’ve been plodding through with my little spiral, scratch-out system. How silly is that? How many wasted hours have I spent, stressing because I couldn’t find what I needed, when the perfect system was right at my fingertips?
You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?
God’s Word is filled with the perfect tools to help us through life. His promises are like coupons we can cash in. Stressed out? We just pull out His Word and say, “God, You promised me peace. I could use some of it now, please.”
Or if we’re confused or perplexed, we pull out His Word and say, “Right here, God. You promised to give me wisdom if I asked for it. Well, I’m asking now.” And He will give it.
The more we study His Word and apply it to our lives, the smoother our paths will be. Not that our lives will be perfect. But with God’s Word, we have the proper tools to navigate the trouble spots.
All too often, though, I’ve treated God’s Word like I treated my computer’s contact program. I know it’s there, but I don’t take the time to learn to use it properly. Instead, I muddle through life with my less-than-efficient ways of doing things, and I stay stressed out and bogged down.
Starting today, I’m going to be more efficient with my life. I’m going to take a little extra time to read God’s Word. I’ll search out His promises and cash them in. After all, what good is it to have such a perfect resource at our fingertips, if we never actually use it?
“He is a faithful God, who keeps His promise and is merciful to thousands of generations of those who love Him and obey His commands,” Deuteronomy 7:9.
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