I thought Bill would share my vision, instead what he saw was another project to add to his to-do list.

“Who’s going to assemble them?” Bill asked.

“I will.”

I could tell that I was starting to wear Bill down (which worried me because he would need his energy to load the shelves into our van). To my delight, he still had the strength needed to ask one last question: “How many do we need?”

“Four?” I asked hopefully.

Bill weighed my request against how much he wanted me to stop talking about the shelves. The latter won out when he said: “Help me lift them onto the cart.”

The next hour was a back aching blur as we loaded four heavy boxes into my vehicle and lugged them downstairs when we got home.

“Where do you want it?” Bill asked while walking backwards through our basement as I struggled to hold up my end of the first box.

“By the weight set is fine.”

I wanted the shelves out in the open so I wouldn’t put off my promise to assemble them. Three weeks later they were still there.

“Why haven’t you put the shelves together?” Bill asked one night after work.

“I tried, but it’s a two-person job.”

We would soon learn that the job required, not just two people, but two days and two more trips to the store to buy additional shelving units as we found more and more places to organize (see the organizing tip in the right column of this newsletter). All the work was worth it when we surveyed what we had done and decided: it was good.

“I can see finishing our basement one day,” Bill said as he surveyed our newly de-cluttered surroundings. “Until this moment, I never could.”

Bill’s comment was evidence of what professional organizer Vicki Norris calls the Possibility Principle. On page 165 of her book Reclaim Your Life, Norris has this to say about reaching our potential: “Many of us are distracted by our disorder and cannot see the possibilities for our life. Instead of discovering the fullness of our capabilities and passions, we are stuck in a holding pattern of confusion in our cluttered home and offices.”

“If we cannot see possibilities,” Norris added, “we get lodged in a rut and lose hope. Instead of moving forward, we stagnate in our personal and professional lives.”

After four years of editing my website and monthly newsletter, I’ve been wondering what God has planned next for my life. At the same time, I have become content to major in the minors as I allow everyday distractions like e-mail, my favorite television shows and daily chores to keep me from writing. Wanting to know more about my purpose without being willing to work for it makes me wonder if calendars are a lot like the cluttered corner in my basement: Do we have to make the most of the opportunities we have before God will lead us to more?

According to Vicki Norris, the answer is: Yes. “Unless we are willing to question the roles and activities in our life and expose them to pruning,” Norris wrote on page 163 of Reclaim Your Life, “we may never experience the fruit on the other side of the pruners.”

The fruit on the other side of our basement reorganizing project came in the form of two large boxes with dozens of unassembled parts. Bill and I started putting the first game table together after Katie and Hollie went to bed on Christmas Eve. Four hours later, we were still working on it.

As I ran upstairs to get the charger for our drill, I thought about all of the home improvement projects we've completed since moving to Illinois. If I had known how much work it would take to get our home to the point it was at today,  I would have felt overwhelmed and exhausted as I moved directly from one project to another, instead of spacing them out over time.

Knowing my tendency to push myself and my family too hard made me realize for the first time that one of the reasons God gives us just enough light for the step we’re on is, not to cause us stress, but to give us a break as He protects us … from ourselves.

The saying is true: Inch by inch, life’s a cinch; yard by yard, it’s incredibly hard. Why then do so many of us—myself included—refuse to start a project because we can’t see how it will end when the big picture we are searching for is only a few steps away? I had no idea when we bought the first shelving units that they would lead to the purchase of four more and the purging of so much clutter as we reorganized our entire basement. I am thankful that we did, though, because it made room for something better—the game tables—and served as a reminder that when we make the most of what we have, God blesses us with more.

It was a lesson that Jesus taught in Matthew 25 when he talked about a man who entrusted his property to servants while he was away on a journey.  “To one he gave five talents of money,” Jesus told his disciples, “to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.”[i]

Jesus went on to say that, upon their master’s return, the man who used the five talents he was given to earn five more was hailed with the following words of praise: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”

The servant who dug a hole in the ground and hid the only coin he received did not fare as well when the master said: “Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”[ii]

I don’t want to miss out on what God has planned for me because I’m waiting for someone else to make the first move.  Do you? As a new year begins, let's put an end to old habits that keep us from becoming who God created us to be. When it comes to projects and finding our purpose, the big picture is assembled one step at a time as we make the most of the opportunities we’ve been given and trust God to lead us to more.

“For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.”

(Matthew 25:29a)

Quotes On Pruning:

“Savvy gardeners know that removing dead stuff from foliage is necessary and pruning back living plants will cause a garden to flourish. In fact, if a plant isn’t thriving, pruning will give it a fresh new start.”

Vicki Norris, Reclaim Your Life, p. 159

“Organizing is a lot like pruning. Simplifying your space and schedule will invigorate your life.”

Vicki Norris, Reclaim Your Life, p. 163

Quotes On Reaching Our Potential:

“The Possibility Principle is this: When we engage in organizing, we reclaim our potential, embrace possibilities, and enhance our quality of life.”

Vicki Norris, Reclaim Your Life, p. 165

“A lifestyle of order liberates us to serve others and live on purpose.”

Vicki Norris, Reclaim Your Life, p. 165