Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages idea is brilliant. She writes about it in several of her books. The first time I read about it was in The Artist’s Way. The idea is to come to where you write first thing in the morning and just start writing whatever comes to mind.

As an entrepreneur I love that. As you might know I’m trying to create a dynamic maid service headquartered here in Nashville. I’ve actually been doing this for almost 12 years, and I still enjoy it. I actually cleaned our house on Friday, and when we went over to my brother’s house on Saturday I instinctively took out the trash without even giving it a second thought. I love the simple act of doing small minutiae that connects to housecleaning. My brother Joel who sells Toyotas in Arkansas can attest to the fact that I’ve always been a clean freak. I joke with people that I went to undergrad and grad school to become a man of the cloth, and I suppose I’m still fulfilling that “calling.” 🙂

Life has incongruent things like that doesn’t it? When I took the trash out here at my Tennessee brother’s house I complimented his wife’s organizing the garage. It looks amazing. They have 3 kiddos, so the garage became a catch-all of the family of 5, but she worked hard to organize it. So many people don’t take full advantage of their maid service because they have so much stuff, and they don’t have a place to put it. Marie Kondo’s special on Netflix based upon her book is popular along with shows like that on HGTV or some other cable channel because our stuff is overwhelming us, and we don’t know what to do with it. I think a tidy and clean house produces more peace, and even though there are those who make a significant contribution to the value of our lives have haphazard desks I think the most productive people have streamlined their stuff for maximum productivity.

I’m not a professional organizer. I professionally clean houses, but there are times when I do have to “act” as a professional organizer to do the work of a housekeeper. Cleaning around knick knacks, shampoo bottles and stuff on a kitchen island is not cleaning, so I have to relocate them to clean under them, but I do put those things back as best as I can remember where the renter or home owner had them. Most people don’t mind if I relocate things so long I make them visible without hiding them in a drawer, cabinet or nightstand. More times than not they don’t hesitate to text me if they can’t locate a certain item.

As my parents age, my father-in-law fights cancer and my daughter begins high school it’s vital Carey and I get very organized as we have to consult paper work or phone numbers. In many cases maid service is so much more than housecleaning. It’s helping people put order in their lives as they fulfill their callings.

I have an “emergency” trip to my accountant this morning to address a business issue I stumbled upon Friday afternoon. Had I been more organized I would not have to shoot from the hip this morning. Helplessness is sometimes avoided when we prepare. I’m not trying to be melodramatic, but time waits for no one as you very well know. Some of us have to learn the hard way don’t we?

It does boggle my mind sometimes as a Christian that Jesus did not have a place to lay his head. I don’t know how much of a homeless lifestyle he had, but I’m sure he stayed in the homes of the Apostles, and I do know when he hung on the cross he had the presence of mind to instruct John to care for his mother Mary. If that’s not a miracle then I don’t know what one is. The Greek word for miracle simply means sign, and even though supernatural activity can be involved I think God works many times through mundane activity to accomplish his purposes.

You dear ones who come here post after post to read my drivel don’t realize how much encouragement you give me, and a simple like at the bottom speaks volumes to me. Thank you, thank you and thank you. I don’t have to tell you life is hard. You’re living it, but when we allow our Father to work through us in the muck and mire of this broken world we mirror the fact that we are jars of clay being molded into vessels of beauty who encourage each other.

I want to leave with you a passage from 2 Corinthians 4 I memorized many years ago.

So do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

That may not be exactly correct, but we’ll let it be a paraphrase. The message is spot on, and like my pastor said yesterday, none of us is perfect.

But we have a Father who is.

And He’s a good good Father. Happy belated Father’s Day to those of you who serve our heavenly Father.

Don’t let the stuff of life cloud your view of what our heavenly Father wants you to see.

Grace and peace dear ones.