Make A Plan Monday: Organizing

In our efforts to organize, we may think like the young girl who told her mom upon seeing a waterskier:  "Look at that man.  He'll never catch that boat." (source unknown).  We need to positively think about organizing and our ability to do so.

When we are determined to change and organize our lives and homes, we need to plan for what we can do, beginning simply, not trying to do it all at once.  If we don't want to become overwhelmed and thereby give up, we need to think about the time and resources we have to get organized.  Most of us don't have all day to do any one thing, but we can usually manage small increments of time, whether it be 10, 15, or 20 minutes or even while we are talking on the phone.

An important part of organizing is scheduling, including a set time to organize or maintain that which is already organized.  A weekly family planning meeting is very helpful in determining what needs to get done and any extra things we may be able to accomplish based on the family needs and activities going on.  It greatly helps to have the whole family know what things are going on in advance rather than 5 minutes before!

There are many areas in our homes and lives that need and benefit from organization.  Some examples--finances, meal planning, scheduling, housework, shopping, education, gospel study, preparing for specific activities, specific rooms and areas of the house and yard, etc.  We may be quite organized in some of these areas, but have utter chaos in others.

We invite the spirit into our lives and homes by organizing--whether it is discarding bad habits and developing good ones or by having a clean home.  The scriptures teach that the spirit doesn't dwell in unholy places (or unclean places).  I know I am calmer and happier when my surroundings are clean and organized, when things are planned out and going as planned.  The Lord has given us a mind to think and lead to actions, we can use it to better organize ourselves and our family, thus doing more to invite the spirit into our homes and lives.

(The thoughts above come from a RS class on organizing that I taught 4 or 5 years ago)