Take Heed Lest Your Hearts Be Overcharged

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. (Luke 21:34)

This bit comes during Christ’s explanation of the signs of the second coming.

The part that puzzles me is that word “overcharged.”  If it were in a retail context, it would mean “paying too much.”  If it were in an electronics context, it would mean “ too much electricity put in.”  With the list of surfeiting, drunkenness, and cares of this life, it sounds like it is saying some surfeiting, drunkenness, and worldly care is alright, but not too much.  But that rubs us wrong because from what we know of Jesus’ holiness, we can’t imagine He would look upon those things with any degree of allowance, especially among the Saints who are supposed to know better.  (I don’t know if we can totally get rid of worldly care though.. If so, I would love someone to tell me how!)

The word “surfeiting” is kind of tricky too. There is a footnote for it that says “debauchery” and a reference to the Topical Guide to “rioting and reveling.” That seems really odd.  Are the Saints really going to be inclined to debauchery, rioting, and reveling?  That is really out of character for Saints. 

This may be a case where we have to leave the KJV and look at other translations.  I want to call your attention to Biblehub.com, which gives parallel verses among a whole mess of translations.  They help us with this particular verse because they give alternate phrasing. 

Overcharged – weighed down/ dulled/ loaded down/ grow cold/ laden

Surfeited – carousing/ dissipation/ self-indulgence/ gluttony/ drunk/ excess

These words above give an overarching sense of excess.  When you add to that drunkenness and the cares of this life, you start to get the feeling that the verse is a warning against excess, even in activities that are lawful in and of themselves.  (Yes, drunkenness is unlawful among the Saints, but there are more things one can be drunk on besides drink or drugs.  Self-indulgence in anything to excess can dull our spiritual sensitivities, even if there is no earthly law against it.)

The Saints know better than to go after the sins of the heathen.  But we get under stress and we have to find ways to relax and recreate our strength.  It is also an article of faith to us to seek after everything that is virtuous, of good report, and praiseworthy.. but we also have a tendency to want to own everything that is virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy.  We like our pleasures a lot, along with our phones, our social media, our TV and Netflix, and so on.  I think Jesus’ warning really is for our day, telling us the excess is dangerous because it keeps us unaware of what’s really happening and lulls us into passivity, just as if we were drunk.

It is amazing to me that this warning was given so long ago for our day.  The warning against excess shows us Jesus knew a time would come when so much would be available that even the Saints could be mesmerized by it.

Rendering an account helps us de-clutter

And verily in this thing ye have done wisely,

for it is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward,

to render an account of his stewardship,

both in time and in eternity.

(D&C 72:3-5)

We may have the notion that we will render an account once and for all on Judgement Day, but this scripture shows us that we will render an account in time (or during our lives) too.  While it may still seem like the accounting is only done once, when we do it often, it can help us continue to make progress.  

We are familiar with the account that we give every year to the bishop about our tithe-paying status, but rendering an account can be a helpful tool for other areas or our lives.  Specifically, I want to point out how it is fundamental to the de-cluttering process.

            Rending an account to another person helps us figure out what is surplus.  There is something about talking to another person that helps you think more realistically about how often you really use something.  This is one way professional organizers help their clients de-clutter.  Professional organizers are adept at asking questions that will challenge us to think about our need for things, to think about how much is appropriate to have that will not get in our way, and to think about whether the frequency of use justifies the space things take up.  

The following questions can help you clarify whether you really need something:

What is this and what is it used for?

How often do I use it?

Is this really helpful to me? (Does this item make my life easier, save me time, save me money, fulfill an essential need?)

Do I love it?  If so, why?

If I had to buy this again, would I buy it?

Is this the best place for it?

Do I have space for this?

How many of these do I have? (Do I need them all?  Which are my favorites?)

Do I own something else that does the same job?

Is owning this more trouble than it is worth?

Some people might feel uncomfortable with having another person ask these questions; it might feel like they are being judged.  However, if the person asking the questions does it with compassion and a desire to understand, rather than to condemn or mock, then it creates a safe emotional place.  I try to make sure my clients know that they are not the ones under trial, but their stuff is.  My clients may balk at the beginning, but as time goes on, because of the safe emotional space I create and try to maintain for them as they answer, they get better and better at asking these questions themselves and making the judgment themselves.  

Usually when my clients have a hard time explaining why something is needed, there is some sort of emotional issue or attachment involved and they need time to work through those issues.  I don’t push too hard when this kind of situation comes up because I know the issue will come up multiple times with other possessions, and eventually my clients will come to a realization themselves to let go as I help them deal with the attachment.  Once their awareness has been raised, they are ready to learn by their own experience whether they need something or not.

            When we ask ourselves questions about our use of our stuff, we are in essence giving an account of part of our stewardship.  It can only help when we are as honest as possible and as realistic as possible.  Then, when we act bravely to fix the problems, whether by repair, donation, recycling, or just plain throwing things away, we need not fear accounting to anyone else.

            It is possible for the process of rending an account to become so quick and easy with practice that becomes almost intuitive.

            If you want to see the question process in action, you can check out the article “How to use Declutter Questions to Make Purging Decisions at the blog I’m an Organizing Junkie.

P. S. What do you plan on applying these questions to?  What have you been able to let go of because of asking these questions?

P. S. S.  I will be posting future insights from the scriptures about organizing and de-cluttering on my blog “House of Order, House of God,"  so if you want to get up-to-date notification on your blog readers, feel free to follow me there too! 

De-cluttering counsel: Seek not to be cumbered

“Seek not to be cumbered…” (D&C 66:10)

This simple, but powerful line is very helpful for a bunch of different situations relating to dealing with our goods, both to de-clutter and to remain de-cluttered.

To be “cumbered” means to be restricted, restrained, bounded, limited, or curbed, so when we are cumbered by our stuff, we are restricted by the large amounts we have.

How can seeking not to be cumbered help us?

It can help us at the store when we find things we like and want to buy.  If our goal is to keep from being cumbered, then we have a license to be incredibly picky about what we buy and bring home.  It means that we can think before we plunk down our money.  While we often think about how things will help us, we can also think realistically about the demands those things will put on us.  It will eventually get dirty.  How will we clean it?  Where will we keep it?  Is there room for it?  Will it fill all the needs it can possibly fill?  There have been many times that I have looked at a product, liked it, but have refrained from buying it because I had no idea how to care for it and didn’t want the stress (or guilt) of living with the duty of cleaning and caring for it.  If we follow that single instruction – seek not to be cumbered – it can help us avoid impulsive buying, which causes clutter.  It takes practice at first and a lot of conscious thought, but if we work at it, it can become second nature.  

I was trying to think of an example to share and I realized that so much of my thinking about this has become automatic now that examples I came up with were from when I was first practicing the technique.  I remember contemplating a sheepskin rug at IKEA because I liked the fuzzy factor, but I couldn't figure out how I would clean it once it got dirty. Vacuum?  Washing machine? Beat it with a tennis racket?  If I put it somewhere out of the way, it would stay clean, but then I would hardly enjoy it as much as I liked.  If I used it often, it would get dirty faster.  Finally I just decided to forget the idea.

"Seek not to be cumbered" can also help us when we are trying to get rid of clutter; it can change our focus from finding excuses to keep things to finding excuses to let go of things.  

You know what things are burdening you and holding you back, so let them go.  Let go of the broken things you haven’t had time to fix and don’t know how.  Let go of the mismatches, the outgrown clothes, the unread magazines and newspapers, the books you haven’t looked at, the movies you haven’t watched, the craft supplies you haven’t touched. 

The sacrifice of Christ and de-cluttering

And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal. (Alma 34:14)

We are familiar with how the principle of animal sacrifice in the Old Testament was to point Israel to the sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ.  We also should be fairly familiar with how the sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit can point us to Christ.  But what if we also apply the principle of sacrifice to our efforts to de-clutter?  Everything we give away and let go of can remind us of what Christ sacrificed for us.  The better we get at letting go, the easier it becomes, but there may still be some things that will be very hard to let go of, even though we know we should.  At these times, letting go may seem like inexorable deprivation.  This is when remembering Christ’s sacrifice can be most instructive and comforting.  And can’t we ask the Lord to sanctify us and refine us by our efforts to let go?  

Let me give an example of something I felt was a sacrifice to de-clutter.  I’ve only made one quilt for myself in my life, and I gave it away before I ever used it.  I designed it myself, and I chose the material for it specifically so that it would be as colorful and cheerful as possible.   I meant it to be as large as possible for my twin bed (I was single at the time), and I gave it a fleece backing and the thickest batting I could find so that it would be as warm as possible.  It took a long time to make, and by the time I finished it, things had changed—I was married and slept on a king-sized bed with my husband, and although the quilt would have been huge on a twin-sized bed, the quilt wasn’t big enough for a king.  We also had moved to Arizona, and the quilt designed for northern chilly nights was too hot.   The day I finished it was the day I knew I had to give it away.  I took it to a ward swap meet and the bishop’s daughter pounced on it.  I was pleased that someone else was going to appreciate it.

That was kind of a hard decision to make, but it made it easier for me to de-clutter.  After all, if you’ve let go of something big, then letting go of littler things is a cinch.

When have you let go of something and felt like it was a sacrifice?  Tell me about it?

Unexpected indirect blessing of tithing: learning to de-clutter

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)

This verse contains the great blessing that comes with paying tithing—that there will not be room enough to receive the blessing poured out. However, if we also look at it from the perspective of de-cluttering, it teaches another principle—the necessity of being able to perceive when there is “not room enough.” Finding there is not room enough is an invitation to give away the surplus and be blessed further.

These days many people are not able to tell that they have no room to receive more. They live their lives with homes stuffed with goods that are not important enough to the way they are living their lives now. This verse gives us the hint that an indirect blessing of paying tithing is that we will begin to discern what we need and what we don’t and be able to tell when we have been given more than we are able to receive. If we are able to tell the difference between what we can receive to make use of and what we don’t have room to receive, we will be able to de-clutter, our lives will be simpler, and our possessions will be streamlined in a manner that will really facilitate our lives of discipleship rather than inhibiting us.

How does tithing help us do this? When we pay tithing, we learn it is possible to live with what is left over. It gives us a chance to cultivate greater efficiency in our expenditures. That skill of efficient use can spill over to other parts of our stewardship, such as considering how our space is used and whether the things we have that fill up our space are really serving us as they should. Paying tithing takes practice, and de-cluttering takes practice too. Paying tithing gives us practice in sacrificing, so it will be easier for us to let go of what we don’t need when we de-clutter.

The parable of the rich fool

15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:15-21)

It is easy to dismiss this parable as one applying to the rich and not to ourselves. However, I think that Jesus set a rich man as the main character in order to exaggerate the characteristics that he wished to decry in order to make them more obvious and to show the end consequences. The piercing question, “whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” could be said to a poor man or a middle class man as well as a rich man. People at all heights on the socio-economic latter can be equally obsessed with their possessions, equally covetous for more, and equally chagrinned if they were to be told their life would end that night.

But I’m going at this a bit out of order.

The rich man’s solution to an incredibly bounteous harvest seems like common sense from a worldly standpoint. He’s acting under the assumption that he still has many years to live and provide for himself. He’s very prudent in temporal things, as we can see throughout the parable. He works hard at farming, and the ground brought forth plentifully, so we see he understands the law of the harvest. He is careful to provide proper storage for his goods, with proper-sized barns. He understands the principle of delayed gratification, as he understands the more he works now, the more he’ll have later to enjoy. He knows how much he needs in a year to have a high quality of life, and he can tell that after this harvest he has enough that he probably doesn’t have to work again for the rest of his life. The problem is, he thought of it as all his own, all so he could take it easy, eat, drink, and have fun. He forgot it was a stewardship given to him by God. It is interesting this man was already rich before the bounteous harvest, and his bounteous harvest made him obscenely rich.

The wake-up call comes when God says to him, “this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Suddenly the assumption that he has to provide for himself for many more years is no longer valid. Suddenly it is clear that he won’t even need any of what he has stored up. (If he were to decide to dispose of his possessions in charitable giving in one day, would he be able to accomplish it all? Or would it have been better for him to be giving all along? Clearly giving all along is the better way.)

This parable throws into sharp relief the conflicting requirements between the need to provide for oneself and the importance of being ready to leave it all behind and meet God. We don’t know how long we will live, but we also don’t know how soon we will die.

Said another way, we live now according to our perception of the future. We save carefully to prepare for later years when we will not be able to work. But we forget that our mortal future is only temporary and we don’t know how long it will last. Provision for a long mortal future does not guarantee we will actually have that time. The greatest future we have to prepare for is eternity. If we only prepare for the future of our mortal life, we demonstrate shortsightedness.

____________________________._____________________________

Do you see the dot in the middle of those lines above? The dot is like our mortal life. The lines are like eternity.

I think one of the ways we can stay prepared is by staying de-cluttered. There’s a lot here that can apply to clutter.

What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? – When we have no room for all our stuff, it is a good indication that we need to let go. The world’s solution is to get a bigger storage space, but this parable suggests it’s better to give away the surplus and donate to charity—“be rich toward God,” in other words.

Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years – So often, the things we are hanging onto are not for use now, but for later at a time when we anticipate we will be able to use them, or for a time that someone else will be able to use them! This parable suggests that if we were to suddenly pass away, there would have been no point in storing those items. (Not only that, but the haunting question “then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” hints that our specific wishes for that stuff we were storing probably wouldn’t be known by those trying to dispose of it. They may do something completely different with it from what we wanted done.) The rich man may have been keeping things to bequeath to his children, but this parable suggests the time to give is now. What if instead we keep around only the things we are using now.

I think the parable also shows the difference between providing for oneself and covetousness. The man in the parable was already rich beyond providing for his ordinary human needs, but he had to have more. Likewise, it is possible to figure out how much we really need to live and calculate how much is needed for that part of our mortal future when we won’t be able to provide for ourselves.

Ultimately, this is the punch line of the parable—“a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” What did the rich man’s life consist of, minus his riches? We may never know, since this was a parable, but it is a good question to ask of ourselves—“What does my life consist of, minus my possessions?” It is a very important question to ask because at some point we will die, and our spirits will be separated from our bodies and will have nothing more to do with the material world, for a long, long while. What will our spirits do to spend the time between death and resurrection without any things to use and play with? We’ve been told that we will join the throng of teachers preaching to the spirits who are in prison, but are we prepared to do that? Will that be an activity congenial to us there if it is not now? We’ve been told we will join our departed families, but are we prepared with the social skills and communication skills to appreciate and use that time together?

De-clutter with prayer

Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening. (Alma 43:21)

If you are deep in trouble with clutter, you need the Lord’s help. You need miracles, and a bunch of them. You need the miracle of inner change that will help you change your circumstances. Those miracles can start with fervent, sincere prayer, constant prayer.

• Pray about your confusion of what to keep and what to let go.
• Pray for a different and better perspective of the purposes that your stuff should have in your life.
• Pray about your worries about what you might need “just in case.”
• Pray that you will be given the spiritual gifts of ingenuity and resourcefulness if a need for something you have let go suddenly arises.
• Pray to have the spiritual gift of discernment and to acquire better judgment about your needs than you now have.
• Pray to discover better criteria by which to judge how much is enough and what should be gotten rid of.
• Pray to have stamina and endurance—mental, emotional, and physical—to deal with all the decisions you must make about your stuff.
• Pray to be kind to yourself and not be judgmental of your past self as you begin to make different decisions from what you made in the past.
• Pray to maintain your motivation during times when progress seems slow. Pray for renewal of desire to de-clutter.
• Pray find disposal methods that are BOTH easiest AND wisest.
• Pray to be led to people who can teach you good habits of dealing with stuff and who will teach you both by example and by edifying words.
• Pray to find ways you can change your personal habits such that you won’t get in this predicament again.
• Pray to find people who will validate your efforts and celebrate with you over your efforts.
• Pray to feel peace and not fear.
• Pray to be able to overcome temptation and any obstacle that might stand in your way to de-clutter.

For a story about how praying helped someone de-clutter, you can read my post “Prayer: the powerful tool for overcoming the fear of de-cluttering” on my blog Zion Space.

For a post about how de-cluttering involves repentance, you can read my post “De-cluttering and repentance” on that other blog as well.

If you want to see how clutter is closely related to idolatry, you can read the chapter from my book here.