An Unjumbled Life

It’s no secret that horizontal surfaces attract things. A coffee table cannot keep an empty top. The kitchen counter always has room for one more appliance.

Perhaps the most maddening example of this horizontal surface ‘magnetism’ is when a service person comes to fix something in your home. Tools are laid down on counter tops, the kitchen table, the stove, or other surface. We’re talking about places you prepare meals. Who knows where those tools have been? Who knows when they’ve last been sanitized?

Horizontal surfaces attract clutter. The mail is put down on any empty surface. Empty coffee cups or drink cans often pause on their way to the kitchen; the person carrying them gets interrupted and, how lucky! A handy horizontal surface is nearby!

It takes constant vigilance to keep everything in its place. It’s an uphill battle.

Yet eventually new habits are formed. A new standard is set for how much clutter is acceptable.

We have all discovered, during the “shelter in place” weeks, that we have habits that are cluttering up our schedules. We used to watch ball games every night. We went to the grocery store several times a week. We ate at restaurants when we could have made a simple meal at home. How much will we add back when the virus is under control?

Remember Jesus’ parable about a cleaned-up life in Luke 11:24-26? If we’re not careful bad habits will return with a vengeance. Can you decide now what you can continue to live without?