Pinterest Perfect

Throughout the last five years, we lived in the cutest country (very small) cottage, while we built our (final!) home. It seemed like the longest years of my life. This house had belonged to my husbands’ grandparents, which came with so many happy memories! What it didn’t come with, though, were closets. When we moved in, we had one very tiny closet. Ladies, can you feel my pain here?!

For the girl who loves her clothes, shoes, and some purses (please Lord Jesus, come help me!) – this was nearly impossible to deal with. Clutter completely stresses me out and makes me feel yuck. I would clean, organize, buy another storage box and somehow, still have no room for anything. Life is crazy and messy. Clothes don’t fit, alarms don’t go off (well, they do but I hit snooze 50 times) and one messy day can turn all that organizing into a big pile of clutter!

Now, before you start judging me and pull up my nice and tidy photos on social media where everything looks exactly how I want it. That’s not always real life. That is the reason why I wanted more space so that I would have more room to hide things! Pretty smart, huh?

Fast forward and we’re moved into our new house with closets galore and storage space everywhere. Praise. The. Lord.

But guess what? Life is still crazy and messy and cluttered! What’s worse, now we don’t even have kids at home to blame it on! I miss that.

I was convinced that something new, something bigger, something better would fix my problems and make my house, and life, Pinterest perfect.

Have you ever felt that way about something in your life? Perhaps if you could just get something new, things would be better, you would be happier and all would be well?

Here is what I quickly realized…the clutter and mess I was dealing with, was really in my heart.

• I said yes to things before asking God about it.

• I said yes because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

• I said yes because I wanted people to think I could do it all.

• I said yes because I believed I was the only one who would do it the right way.

• I said yes because I wanted it Pinterest perfect.

So how do we declutter our life (and more importantly, our hearts)?

• Admit you can’t do it all! God doesn’t want me to do it all; this is freedom and grace.

• “People pleasing” has to stop! People pleasing is actually a form of pride (ouch…people pleasing sounds nicer).

• Making space and filling it back up will quickly become a messy pile of clutter all over again.

So, friends, let’s stop waiting for something new, bigger and better!

Slow down and enjoy today!

Enjoy the moments you have with your kids! They don’t need more things, they need more of you.

Stop worrying about a perfect house! Put down the broom and crank up the music (‘80s rock, just don’t let my dad hear it)!

Call a friend and invite them to lunch!

Plan a date night with your husband. You need it and they do, too.

Finally, stop trying to please everyone else (it’s exhausting) – and focus on pleasing God!

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10 ESV

Check off a couple more on our bucket list! Yea!