The chaos of life
So I've been wanting to post for almost 3 weeks now, and I haven't. Why? Chaos. Life has been chaotic.
How do I know life has been chaotic? I looked around at my "space" at home, and it's a mess. Papers not organized. Clothes not put away. Dishes piled up. I realized my space is a reflection of how I'm doing. When I am focused, when I'm proactive, when I'm doing "life" well, everything around me is in order. When life gets thrown at me, when I haven't had a chance to rest, when I'm too busy to organize, things pile up.
You might say it like this: the space around me is a reflection of me.
I can tell when I'm thinking clearly, setting goals, and managing my time well: clean room. I can also tell when my brain is foggy, I'm feeling stressed out, and my life is disorganized: messy room. My space is a litmus test of how I'm doing in general.
But here's the good news. Tonight I became proactive. I cleaned, organized, and created order within the space around me. And you know what? It bled over into other areas of my life. Afterward I was done "re-ordering" everything, I felt empowered. Empowered to engage in work. Empowered to enter relationships. Empowered to reclaim my life.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to me, though. God designed me to make order. Because like everyone I'm made in his image. You see, God is not a God of disorder (1 Cor. 14:33). No, he actually created order out of chaos. In the first chapter of the Bible, the world is pictured as a chaotic mess. God created by "ordering" a messy creation. He separated darkness from light (Day 1), sea from sky (Day 2), and land from water (Day 3). Living things could now fill the earth and thrive (Days 4-6). God gave order to the universe. That's the only way things could survive. Nothing could thrive in the chaotic world of Genesis 1:2.
Order promotes well-being. God showed us that in the first couple chapters of his Word. (*He even put Adam and Eve in the garden to work it and care for it--they were reflecting God's image as they "ordered" the garden!*) When we order--when we "create"--we are being like God. We reflect his image, like he made us to.
Now, not everyone thrives in tidy space. That's just how God made me. God made others different. For instance, I had an musician friend in college whose room was always a mess. He told me he thrived in chaos. I don't know how he did it. But I have never heard someone make incredible music with any instrument he touched before. He wrote amazing compositions. And that's how he reflected God's image. He made things that were beautiful that weren't there before. He created. He "ordered". It was incredible.
God made me so that I thrive in tidy environments. Now that my room is clean, I am well-ordered. And ready to start blogging again. I needed a reminder that I can create something meaningful from chaos, and cleaning my room gave me some momentum.
How do you "order"? Where do you bear God's image through creativity?
How do I know life has been chaotic? I looked around at my "space" at home, and it's a mess. Papers not organized. Clothes not put away. Dishes piled up. I realized my space is a reflection of how I'm doing. When I am focused, when I'm proactive, when I'm doing "life" well, everything around me is in order. When life gets thrown at me, when I haven't had a chance to rest, when I'm too busy to organize, things pile up. You might say it like this: the space around me is a reflection of me.
I can tell when I'm thinking clearly, setting goals, and managing my time well: clean room. I can also tell when my brain is foggy, I'm feeling stressed out, and my life is disorganized: messy room. My space is a litmus test of how I'm doing in general.
But here's the good news. Tonight I became proactive. I cleaned, organized, and created order within the space around me. And you know what? It bled over into other areas of my life. Afterward I was done "re-ordering" everything, I felt empowered. Empowered to engage in work. Empowered to enter relationships. Empowered to reclaim my life.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to me, though. God designed me to make order. Because like everyone I'm made in his image. You see, God is not a God of disorder (1 Cor. 14:33). No, he actually created order out of chaos. In the first chapter of the Bible, the world is pictured as a chaotic mess. God created by "ordering" a messy creation. He separated darkness from light (Day 1), sea from sky (Day 2), and land from water (Day 3). Living things could now fill the earth and thrive (Days 4-6). God gave order to the universe. That's the only way things could survive. Nothing could thrive in the chaotic world of Genesis 1:2.
Order promotes well-being. God showed us that in the first couple chapters of his Word. (*He even put Adam and Eve in the garden to work it and care for it--they were reflecting God's image as they "ordered" the garden!*) When we order--when we "create"--we are being like God. We reflect his image, like he made us to.
Now, not everyone thrives in tidy space. That's just how God made me. God made others different. For instance, I had an musician friend in college whose room was always a mess. He told me he thrived in chaos. I don't know how he did it. But I have never heard someone make incredible music with any instrument he touched before. He wrote amazing compositions. And that's how he reflected God's image. He made things that were beautiful that weren't there before. He created. He "ordered". It was incredible.
God made me so that I thrive in tidy environments. Now that my room is clean, I am well-ordered. And ready to start blogging again. I needed a reminder that I can create something meaningful from chaos, and cleaning my room gave me some momentum.
How do you "order"? Where do you bear God's image through creativity?
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