During

This is not a "Before" picture. Nor is it an "After" picture. It is a 'DURING' picture. I am a very neat and tidy person. I don't like clutter. If I were to show you a 'before' picture it would look exactly like my 'after' picture because I keep my dressing room very nicely. When I sort through the rubble of laundry and old clothes it will look exactly as it did before. The dressing room has been used time and time again for brides getting ready for their wedding. It is a small room but it has good energy in the space and it has been used well and shared. Most recently I had it filled with young women dressing in sari. The dressing up time was as much fun (or more) than the whole wedding shower! It was an event in itself.

Let's face it. We don't even like to show our 'before' pictures unless they are displayed proudly next to our 'after' picture. We might not like having our picture taken but as soon as we drop fifty pounds we are frantically searching for a 'before' picture to show the world how much we have improved.

The first time I met Judy heart to heart (I had 'known' her before in an acquaintance sort of way), we couldn't stop talking. It was as if we were looking in a mirror. Everything we said reflected the heart of the other and we began to finish each other's sentences. In my spontaneous Linda way I stopped and asked, "What does your closet look like?" and in her spontaneous Judy way she took me by the hand and said, "Come on, girlie. I will show you!" We found ourselves in her giant walk in closet laughing. In the midst of every modern closet organizer known to man I found the same sort of jumble that my own closet exists in. What up? I had found a soul mate. Here we were both "interior" decorators but the really truly interiors of our home had some organizational flaws. Ah! Exterior decorators instead?

I have often fretted over any spiritual analogy that would point to my life being full of secrets and deadly sin. You know, that it looks good on the outside but inside you are filled with dead man's bones. (Jesus words, not mine) Yikes! God alone knows my heart so I will let that one lay in His good hands for His discretion and judgment.....(back off, reader)

What my 'during' picture reveals to me is that we are in a process and most of the time our life looks like a 'during' picture. There are times we need to do our 'laundry' and keep only those things that have value and purpose. We can't keep getting new things without getting rid of some of the old. It's important to purge ourselves (or understand that Jesus is doing some pruning).

I've already confessed my love for books and as I was clearing out my closet to make room for the clean laundry and the new clothes purchased in Woodland  I found MORE BOOKS! They were a reflection of my past passions for sewing, decorating and cooking. Do I really need to keep them??? Isn't this the 'stuff' that makes me feel like I'm drowning in possessions?

I found a quote from Charles Spurgeon today...."What our hearts desire our eyes look for." Ponder that!

It is either a motto for the shop-o-holic or a warning to take a good long look into our hearts. I think we might be a little shocked what we find in there. If you don't know, ask yourself what are you looking for these days. It will expose your heart.
I really like this room in my house. It is a transparent room. It is what it is. There are no closets to hide stuff. There are no walls to dress with decor. I can breath easy in this room. Nothing is haunting me behind closed doors. Dust does settle in this room. The windows need washing as do the floors. But it is apparent and nothing that a little water can't fix. God has likened his Word (Scriptures) to water and we are told to wash ourselves in the water of His Word. How lovely. How practical. How necessary.

I want my closet to be that easy to maintain. 

Don't be afraid of your 'during' picture. Remember that you are in a process. Where we fail is when we take the stuff and stuff it back into the closet and close the doors. We don't deal with it. The problems never get resolved.

Is there pain in your life? Is there fear? Is there pride? Give it to God and He will continue to make something beautiful from your life. It's His guarantee, His promise. Those He loves He chastises, he prunes, he fusses over!

I will send you a before and after picture next but let's hope that it will be as clean behind the closet door as it is on the outside of it....