When You Hit a Roadblock

Days 5 and 6 of the 14″ #sabbathmargin challenge have been, well, challenging. I need to tackle my office-to-be. I want to tackle my office-to-be because I want it to be my office; the place where I can study and write. I have, however, noticed a problem with organizing.

An awful lot of stuff that is now not in the other spaces because it didn’t belong there made its way to my office. In some ways I haven’t dealt with the stuff at all. I just relocated it.

There is a twin bed in my office. We don’t really have anywhere to store it. It is one of a set of bunk beds and the other one is already stored under the guest bed. I could put this one under my other son’s bed but that would require a major fumigation effort in and of itself and I am not ready to tackle that right now. And, that only solves where to put the frames – not the mattresses.

I know, we could donate the mattresses and then repurchase twins again when the time comes that we need to put these beds back together – like when we have grandchildren. That won’t be for a while so it probably makes sense to donate the mattresses. But they are quality mattresses and were not inexpensive. We aren’t in the habit of, nor do we have the means to, just throw money around. So we are leaving the one bed up and need to store one mattress under it. I have a quilt that my Mammaw made for me that I want to cover the bed with and have something like a day-bed.

In the process of all of the organizing, the bed had become quite the dumping ground: A pile of displaced pictures and frames; several stacks of birthday cards; a shelf that needs to be re-hung. Taken all at once it is overwhelming. But we don’t ever need to take something all at once. Just do one thing to get started. Dealing with the stacks of cards prompted me to write many overdue thank you notes and then permitted me to put the cards a way.

I enlisted my husband to hang the shelf.

I moved some stuff around, threw some stuff away, and got that bed cleaned off.

Then I hit a roadblock.

I can’t get the extra mattress under the bed. For starters, my wedding dress is stored in a box under that bed. I can’t lift the bed to get the box out from underneath. That bed is heavy. It will take two people or some great creativity to lift the bed enough to get the box out and put the mattress under it.

So – I am stymied for the moment.

And disappointed. This was a setback I had not anticipated in my pursuit of #sabbathmargin and it tempts me to quit. It’s a good lesson in the need for perseverance.

Not every effort to organize, and keep organized, my home spaces will meet with immediate success. Sometimes I am going to have work a little harder, be a little more patient, and wait for others to help. This is going to be true for any of us as we move to create #sabbathmargin in our lives no matter where that is. There will be those things we can implement immediately – like a tea basket or limiting calendar commitments. There will be other times when it takes a little more effort to get to where we have that Sabbath space – like quitting smoking. There are times we will need the help, encouragement and support of others. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. In fact, I bet the harder it is, the more we need to do it because the greater the hold that thing has on our life.

I will tackle the desk and the floor tomorrow.

What is the hard thing you need to start today to create #sabbathmargin in?

Blessings,

Denise

#LivingHoly