Ordering Our Ways

With a new year always comes new goals (or maybe old goals that were never realized) and refreshed motivations. For me there is always an extra spring in my step when I'm doing my everyday tasks - cleaning the house, organizing spaces, making menus - and even an extra excitement over tackling otherwise dreaded projects.

Because that's what you do when new years come, right? You realize everything is new. Everything is fresh, especially your motivation. You have that feeling that you're going to do everything right, and everything is going to be organized. And for a while, it probably is, until that motivation diminishes around the end of January. If you even last that long. ;-)

But something I was thinking about this morning during my devotional time, was the parallel between organizing your physical spaces and organizing your spiritual spaces. Or more accurately, I was thinking about how those two spaces are actually more similar and related than we may realize. When my physical spaces - mainly those in my home - are organized, they draw me into peace and tranquility, which helps me to also order my spiritual spaces. And especially when my spiritual spaces are ordered - when I'm drawing near to the Lord and making his ways my ways - it motivates me to keep my physical spaces ordered. The harmony between the two, especially the reflection of spiritual order in physical order is amazing.

Psalm 50:23 came to mind as these thoughts were rolling. It says, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!" Earlier in the psalm, the author explains God's order for sacrifices - how sacrifices void of thanksgiving are unacceptable. "Ordering our way rightly" involves so many things, including sacrifices of thanksgiving, prioritization of God's Word, obedience to his commandments, and yes, even responsible stewardship of our resources and organization of our homes. All these things compose our "ways." They are all intertwined, and they all please the Lord. And through their proper organization, God will show us his favor.

Happy New Year!