Purge with Passion: Organizing Principles from a Christian Perspective

Copyright © 2013 Jodie Watson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1-(866) 928-1240

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Unless otherwise noted, biblical scripture has been quoted from:

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9513-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9512-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9514-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908737

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/15/2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

God’s Perfect Order

Organization And God’s Plan To Rescue The World

Chapter 1   Preparing To Purge

Why Purging Can Be So Difficult

The Importance Of Purging

Other Issues Affecting Our Ability To Organize

Keeping Chaos At Bay

Creating Organizational Flow

As You Prepare To Purge

Practical Steps For Preparing To Purge

Creating A Vision Area

Getting Started

Keep On Moving Forward

Why Purge With Passion?

Chapter 2   Purging Your Stuff

In Bondage To Our Stuff

God Isn’t Looking At What You Have, But At Who You Are

Placing Our Trust In God

Earthly Treasures

Getting Tough On Clutter

Practical Steps For Purging Your Stuff

Advice To Keep You On Track

Maintaining Your Newly Organized Space

Master The Art Of Purging

Chapter 3   Purging Your Finances

The Love Of Money

Discontentment Leads To Poor Choices

The Weight Of Debt

Becoming A Faithful Steward

Giving, Even When It Hurts

Practical Steps For Purging Your Finances

Transparency In Our Financial Dealings

Coming Out Of Financial Chaos

Chapter 4   Purging Your Time

The Reason You Are Here

Your Life Is Made Up Of The Time God Gives You

Purpose-Filled Time Management

Guard Your Time!

Making Time To Rest

You Are In Control Of Your Time

Practical Steps For Purging Your Time

Procrastination Can Stunt Your Growth

Multitasking Is Not Your Friend

Embracing The Distraction Monster

Can Interruptions Be A Good Thing?

Spending Time With The Lord

The Reason You Are Reordering Your Time

Chapter 5   Purging Your Information

Information Overload

Information: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

The Role Of Technology

Becoming Discerning

Beyond Worldly Knowledge

Practical Steps For Purging Your Information

Paper-Based Information

How To Sort And File Paper

Maintaining Your Newly Created File System

How To Sort Mail

How To Sort Flyers, Brochures, And Catalogs

How To Sort Books And Magazines

Electronic-Based Information

Managing Computer Files

Maintaining An Organized Computer File System

Organizing E-Mail

Maintaining Your Newly Organized Inbox

Navigating The Internet

Keeping Information In The Cloud

Moving Beyond

Information Overload

Chapter 6   Purging Your Inner World

God’s Transformative Power

The High Cost Of Emotional Clutter

When Bad Things Happen

Enduring Trials

Stepping Outside Of Our Circumstances

Practical Steps For Purging Your Inner World

Dealing With Negative Emotions

Reaching Out To Others

Only By The Grace Of God

Chapter 7   Continuing To Purge

About The Author

For Brittany

Strive to enter through the narrow door.

For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

________________________________

Luke 13:24

FOREWORD

T he accumulation of stuff is nothing new. Some two thousand years ago, Jesus reprimanded the ancient world with this reminder: One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15).

We would all affirm this sentiment. Who introduces himself by listing his assets? We all have a sense that we are more than what we own.

And yet Jesus’ statement will make most of us feel uncomfortable. Every addition to our already cluttered lives makes sense in the moment, but it would be difficult for any of us to argue that the phrase abundance of possessions does not apply to us.

Why do we have so much? And why do we seem to always want more?

I would argue that our enjoyment of material things is not the real problem. This world is full of good gifts, and that is by God’s design. We sometimes get the impression that God would like us to get past the physical world and focus only on the spiritual, the ephemeral, the intangible. But wouldn’t that be a silly thing for the God who created the physical world to ask of us?

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen. 1:31). In an important sense, our desire for possessions adds a hearty Amen! to this verse. God made this material world, and it is very good. We recognize this instinctively. And we glorify God when we truly enjoy his good gifts.

Do we glorify God in our clutter, then? Are we not singing his praise all the more when our homes are piled high with his good gifts?

We know only too well that God’s good gifts are easily distorted. The best of human desires are easily mutated into the basest of vices. We go astray in enjoying God’s gifts not when we value what God has made, but when we worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). What commands our time, attention, and resources becomes the object of our worship. And when a gift becomes an object of worship, we cross the line into what the Bible calls idolatry.

Another good indicator that we are misusing God’s gifts comes when we find ourselves stockpiling. If I want all of the good stuff for myself, then I am not treating God’s gifts as God’s gifts. If I don’t care to see other people enjoying these gifts as well, then I am glorifying the gift and not the Giver. At these moments we need to hear Jesus’ gentle reminder: It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Our reality television shows remind us that we have a tendency to accumulate. While most of us aren’t buying second houses to accommodate our ever-expanding piles of stuff, surely we can relate to the growing list of things we need to have. It’s always a little harder to part with stuff than it should be; we can’t shake that nagging fear that if I get rid of this thing I’m not using now, one day I may need it again—and God forbid that we should want something and not have it!

It is at this point that Jodie Watson’s approach to organization becomes so important. She warns, We live in an age where, if we are not careful, our possessions and schedules will control us rather than the other way around.

Jodie’s concern goes beyond managing our stuff to managing our hearts. There is no quota for the appropriate number of possessions; no universal strategy for the organization of our physical and digital belongings. The determining factor is always the heart. If our hearts are in the right place, each possession will be in its rightful place as well.

Not only does Jodie bring years of professional and personal experience to the subject of organization, she also brings a passion borne out of deep-seated convictions. Our religious and philosophical views seep into every area of our lives, and Jodie is no exception. Her contention that our lives begin in our hearts and flow out from there shapes her approach to organization. This gives Jodie a firm foundation for advocating an organized life.

We will never get organized without understanding the basis for organization. It is not enough to say that we should be organized for organization’s sake. At the heart of every impulse toward a simplified and orderly life is a deeper conviction. In Jodie’s case, that conviction is her faith in Jesus. While we often think of faith as a private matter, Jodie finds every reason to let her religious beliefs shape her practical life, as you will see. Jodie offers insight and practical tips for those of us who see the need to purge, organize, and get our priorities set right.

In pulling our attention away from our stuff and refocusing it on the underlying desires of our hearts, Jodie calls us to see Jesus’ ancient words with fresh eyes: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36).

Mark Beuving

Associate Professor, Eternity Bible College

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my Lord and Savior who raised me up out of a bunch of chaos and mess and set my feet on solid ground. I know I’m still a work in progress, but thank You for seeing fit to shake me off, dust me down and make use of me in some small capacity.

Thank you to Eternity Bible College, Simi Valley. I am grateful and so blessed to be able to learn more about God and who He is at this college. A special thank you though to Mark Beuving for taking the time to read my manuscript and provide me with valuable feed-back, for writing an awesome Foreword to this book, and for your continued encouragement and support. Also a special thank you to Doug Main for pointing me in the right direction and helping me get my own perspective in order before embarking upon this book.

To my son, Jordan – I am so utterly happy that I get to be your Mom! Thank you for your positive and encouraging outlook; and for celebrating each and every milestone of this book with me. My prayer is that, in life, at all times, you will choose to walk the narrow road and strive to always know who God really is.

Thank you to the professional organizing communities and friends that have supported me along my journey as a Professional Organizer, especially, Deborah Kawashima for designing a great cover, Susana Enriquez for help with editing, and the members of Faithful Organizers who have been praying for me and for this book.

Special thanks to all the friends and family who continually pray for me and encourage me—you all know who you are! I am so very grateful that you are in my life.

___________

There are not enough letters in the words thank you to convey my appreciation and gratitude to my friend, Noriko Cooper. Without you this book would still be in the process of being written. After months of diligent writing, when it became clear that if I wanted this book to be right I would have to completely scratch everything that had gone before and start over, you walked alongside me and helped me to do it. You encouraged me, challenged me, and offered patient and steadfast help each step of the way. I could not have done this without you, nor would this book be what it is without your contribution and advice. Thank you for your love and friendship.

This book is dedicated to your daughter, because without her I do not know if we would have taken the turn in the road that we did and consequently be on the journey we currently find ourselves.

INTRODUCTION

W hile writing this book, I would explain to people what my book was about—organizing principles from a Christian perspective—and was often asked the question, What does Christianity have to do with organizing? That is a fair question and one I originally asked myself. But it’s not the right question. The questions we should be asking are, Does organization have a part to play in Christianity, and if so, what is it?

I am a Christian woman who happens to be a professional organizer. In keeping Christ at the center of my life, it stands to reason that I would attempt to answer the above questions. I wanted to know how what I do for a living fits into God’s plan for the world, for people, and for myself. In all honesty, the book you are holding in your hands wasn’t the book I started writing when I began. I had no idea the journey God would take me on to reorder my own thinking and priorities so I would place the focus and direction of what you are about to read where it rightly belongs. And where is that exactly? Well, it begins, as everything does, at the beginning.

GOD’S PERFECT ORDER

When God created the world we live in, it was in perfect order. And it was good. Life was full of all that mattered and was necessary: a close relationship with God, healthy relationships with other people, productive and meaningful work, an abundance of good food and time to relax and enjoy God and His creation.

The problem is we messed that order up, and sadly, we continue to do so. The result is chaos, disorder, wrong priorities, bad choices, and continued insistence to put our wants and desires first and foremost. But God loves us and hasn’t forsaken us. He wants to rescue us and set His world to rights.

In the Old Testament, through Abraham, God established His plan to restore blessing back to His creation, and this culminated in the New Testament with Him sending His Son, Jesus, to redeem the earth and restore it to its original order. Jesus is God’s plan to rescue creation. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God has given us an opportunity to become a new creation. Instead of living life for ourselves, we now live for Jesus.

When we genuinely live for Christ, we will desire to reorder our world around Him and begin to live lives that reflect the perfect order He originally intended. We become a part of God’s plan to rescue the world.

ORGANIZATION AND GOD’S PLAN TO RESCUE THE WORLD

So what part does organization play in all of this?

When you place Jesus at the very center of your world and commit to serving Him, the decisions you make about the way you live your life, how you spend your time, what you choose to spend your money on, and the importance of the stuff you own should all line up with His way of doing things.

We live in an age where, if we are not careful, our possessions and schedules will control us rather than the other way around. Was it ever God’s intention for us to live this way? We can see clearly that from the beginning that it was not. All throughout the Bible, we find examples of how to live a more purpose-filled life; one that’s simpler and ultimately less cluttered, where our priorities are in order with the bigger picture. Take a look at Luke 10:38–42.

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.

This is a classic situation where the busyness of life is robbing someone of the very thing that matters most. Don’t get me wrong—there is a time to do the work necessary for everyday living. The problem was that Martha was so caught up in it that she didn’t know how to pause in order to spend precious time with Jesus