Last week, I came home from a doctor’s appointment where I got not bad but annoying news. Then, the auto mechanic let me know that the $350 problem I was trying to solve was actually a $2,700 problem that I had to get fixed immediately. This is all after I found out that one of my favorite community programs was getting its funding slashed by over 50 percent.
What is a girl to do?
If it’s this girl, I go attack my kitchen’s junk drawer. Or the supply closet. Or my sock drawer.
It may seem counterintuitive, but when the world feels overwhelming, you will find me elbow-deep in mismatched socks.
Maybe you’ve found yourself in the same place, fretting about the state of the world, so you are inexplicably sorting your spices or scrubbing grout — not because it fixes the state of the world, but, in some small way, helps you breathe. There might be some wisdom in that.
Isaiah 32:18 (NIV) says, “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.”
Notice that “peaceful dwelling places” is not the same as a peaceful world. Sometimes our peace is a choice.
A response.
A boundary.
No, this isn’t about ignoring the world. It is about creating a home that is a “safe base” from which to respond.
I clean, I declutter, and I organize because I want a place of rest for my body and my mind. When I have that, I react to hard things with love and grace instead of snapping at everyone in my life because I’m stressed both inside and outside of my home. If I can refuel at my safe refuge, I’m more capable of being the hands and feet in a world that desperately needs to see Christ made real.
When I was a young mom and wife, I lived in so much clutter that I would often escape my home to go anywhere — the library, the grocery store, Target — not because I needed books or diapers, but for a taste of peace and order.
It’s a vicious cycle. Our house is out of order, so we find a place to escape, and places like HomeGoods or Old Navy feel bright and clean and organized. Our brains thrive there. And because we don’t want to be rude, we pick up a new cup, a cute boho sweater, or a candle, even though we could open a home fragrance shop with all the pillars and jars we already have. So we bring more things to clean, declutter, and organize into our already bursting home.
But now, I’ve worked hard to create a home where I (and others) can escape to when the world feels out of control.
When the news brings so much sadness and I feel like everything is hard, I take to my house and do something I affectionately call “doomcleaning.” There’s a war in a part of the world I’ve never heard of? I can’t do anything but pray and organize my laundry room. There is a tornado in Oklahoma? Okay, I will clean out under the kitchen sink. There is not a thing I can do in the moment except pray about a world that is out of order, but I can put my world in a little bit more order. Then I can think about the next steps to help out there, in a world that needs help.
Cleaning these parts of my home won’t fix the world, but it can restore a bit of agency to my heart and mind. Doomcleaning is truly the sacred pause that my body needs. It is a way to restore calm and create a space to say, “What now, God?”
Much like the old example of putting on my own oxygen mask before putting on my child’s, I need to order my inner world so I can experience enough peace to start thinking about how I can help the world at large.
I need to breathe before I can help. And putting order into my world helps me breathe.
When I can breathe, I pray more clearly. When I’m not drowning in dishes, I can think about who needs a meal dropped off. When I’m not constantly tripping over shoes, I can better recognize my neighbor’s needs.
When the clutter clears, compassion has room to rise.
Maybe today you don’t need to doomscroll. Maybe instead, you need to doomclean.
Maybe today peace begins with a sock drawer.
Need a community to help you kickstart your decluttering? Join Kathi and her team over at their Facebook group Clutter Free Academy, where you’ll find wisdom and daily, gentle encouragement.
Kathi,
Have you been peeking in my window again? lol
I clean refrigerators!
Thank you for explaining this quirky spiritual practice of mine in such a clear and powerful way!
I feel seen!
Hugs,
Nikki
Kathi, this is Great advice and encouragement! Thank you!
Dear Kathi…….I read your words this morning, but I have an appointment and don’t have time to reply right now, but this afternoon, I should be able to, but it looks like something right up my alley. Very strange, but yesterday, I was thinking, maybe I should get into these junk drawers and clean them out. It will distract me from the dark season I remain in. Things have still not been resolved. Talk to you soon………..Betsy Basile
I love this, Kathi!
What great advice! Taking control of a tiny part of your world, so you can handle helping in the larger space. That makes perfect sense to me!
Thank you, dear one!
Kathi,
I have to smile. Organizing my Laundry Room/Mud Room closet is on my list today. It does feel good and relieves stress.
Sending you summer JOY,
Lisa
What a spot on article. It explains exactly how I feel. Thank you.
Kathi love you sharing your heart in today’s devotion.l love everything you wrote. All so true even the title when the world is out of control fix your sock drawer. That spoke to me to and it said to me when the world is out of control. We have to do our part first sort out our own lives first with God help. As if we have not got our lives in order as God wants us too we can’t help one person in God world especially not saved. To show them God’s love in us. We have to pray and ask God to help us get our lives in order if anything not in order as God would want it to be. So when we have our lives the way God wants us to have them. Then living as God’s Children letting God be our Heavenly Father us his children and if need discipline let God discipline us and guide us how to live right for him every day in our lives. Then we can go share God love with others and help them that need our help.Then tell them our story of how God helped us. Also living it out in our lives for other see. Then when done that we can then go help others. I know the world is the way it is because of all the wrong things that go on in it. We as saved people have to show we care we are different by the way we live our lives for God every day. Going out of our way to be one drop in the big Ocean by helping someone that needs help that is sinking and feels unloved and no one’s cares. Reaching out and being that hand of Jesus reaching them by showing them Jesus love in helping them through what they need help with. No matter what it is. Listing to them and showing we care about them and asking them can we pray with you. That can make a whole world of difference to them to know someone care. That someone is you because you done this for them showing them the love of Jesus. That is what the love of Jesus is all about. Then if they are not saved they will want what you have that is to know Jesus as there Saviour. I say Amen to that. So let’s love people of all walks of life and show them by the way we live our lives and helping them we love Jesus and he loves them. Like the kids song it hardly ever heard now. It is ” Jesus hands were kind hands doing good to all healing pain and sickness” I say Amen to that. Love Dawn Ferguson-Little Enniskillen Co.Fermanagh N.Ireland xx
I often say cleaning is my therapy! Such a great feeling when your home is your safe place! Wish everyone would give it a try!
Thanks for sharing, good to know I’m not the only one.
This is sooo awesome!! And i am giving it to my hubby to read, so he will better understand my habits of trying to keep things neat and orderly! If my home is upside down, every part of me is upside down too! Praise God, for the many ways He gives us to cope!! I love a neat sock drawer!! Thank you Kathi, this Kathy can so relate!! Bless you!!