On Memorial Day, I decided to organize my garage… against my husband’s better judgment. 
. Although I was unable to really get rid of a LOT of stuff, my husband did agree to throw some of his things away, especially since for the most part, he had forgotten he had some of it??? In spite of my boundaries, I was able to establish some semblance of Order!
Please let me know what you think….
“Conflict in Spirit” sounds like a contradiction in terms; an oxymoron, but bear with me for a moment. Over the past few days (like all week), I’ve had no clients, so I’ve had a lot of time to read and study Scripture (sounds like a God set-up doesn’t it). Yes!
Has the presence of the Lord been so strong that you felt overwhelmed?
… There, in lies, my conflict!
Let me give you a little of the backstory…. I believe that I may have shared with you the vision that God gave me for Speight Enterprises. If not, for now the details are not really important. However, the vision has begun to come into focus. Now I know that Christians are not supposed to get scared, but we must acknowledge the fear and reverance of what God is about to do in our lives. What’s funny is that it is actually what the Lord showed me that He would do this year, now I’m unsettled by what’s beginning to manifest?
… Whazzup with that??
I’ve begun to see bits and pieces of the vision coming together. My steps are being ordered and I’m starting to walk down the path that God has allowed me to see. So now comes the conflict of:
About a week or so ago, the Lord gave me a message entitled, “Who’s waiting on who?” subtitle: “Are you listening?” Yes, the question came to me first. Has God shown me His vision and now I’m waiting on Him to make the first move? – Or – Am I just not listening and He has been waiting on me to take the next step? I must admit that it is a somewhat awkward place to me.
So what am I saying? If our vision looks like it will be EASY to accomplish, then we really don’t need God, honestly! But if in our eyes, it looks IMPOSSIBLE, then it must be of God. Why? Because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when ONLY GOD can make it happen and He will truly get ALL the Glory!
As I’ve typed this post, I can see things even clearer now. The Spirit, in itself, is never in conflict, however, the Spirit and the soul are always at war for control of your life. Tell your soul (your mind & emotions) to quiet down, so that you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Now we shouldn’t move too fast, but we can’t afford to simply do nothing.
… Shhhh, Are you listening?
Your vision is clearer than you think. But don’t be scare, we do understand that Life in Christ is a Faith Walk. My daughter said something very profound yesterday. She said that God does tell us to jump off the cliff with our eyes open, because He knows if we see what’s coming, we won’t jump. But in faith, we jump with our eyes closed and allow our Holy Spirit to lead & guide us safely through our life’s journey.
For those of you that took the time to read this post, I pray that it blessed you, as much as it has blessed me. As our vision, in business & in life, becomes too big for our soul to handle, then it’s just the right size for the Holy Spirit to take control!
Be Encouraged!
… The Best is yet to be…
Our weather here in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) has been a mixed bag since our season has changed from Winter to Spring. We went from Winter (very Cold!) to Summer (very Hot!) or as it seems. No really from 40 degrees to 80, almost overnight! But normally when you think of Spring, it’s a period of refreshing. The trees are blossoming, the birds are singing and there is a slight breezy chill in the air.
So what does Spring has to do with Order and Organizing?
Many of us think of Spring Cleaning during this time of year. The house has been closed up, families have spent most of their time indoors and it is now time to open up the house and let the air in. Cleaning can be considered phase one of organizing, but cleaning and organizing are technically two different things. In my opinion, cleaning is to remove dust and dirt, but organizing is to remove clutter and disorder.
As you begin to freshen up the house, consider phase two of the process. Once you have cleaned all the windows, washed the window sills and scrubbed the baseboards, then it’s time to sort through the winter clothes, purge and put them away. Move through the Spring and Summer wear, sort, give away and get ready for the New Birth! Shed off the old, and put on the new.
We are almost halfway through the 3th month of the year already. Assess your progress as it pertains to your objectives & goals for 2016. Do an attitude check… what is your temperature? Are you still in the coldness of the Chaos of your past or have you given Birth to the warmth of your future? Peace and Order are so critical to our well-being. Take a moment to see where you are, so that your Steps may be Ordered to the next level…
Your Season of Refreshing & New Birth has Sprung!!
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Order Your Steps, a member of Faithful Organizers, is offering the March Toward Simplicity Challenge through our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/Order Your Steps.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FAITHFUL ORGANIZERS, AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF CHRISTIAN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZERS, TO LAUNCH IT’S 1ST ANNUAL MARCH INTO SIMPLICITY CHALLENGE!
TORRENCE, CA (February 12, 2016) – Faithful Organizers, an international group of Christian Professional Organizers, is launching their first organizing challenge to the public. March Toward Simplicity will run the entire month of March with the exception of Sundays. Each day, participants will be challenged to complete a small organizing task to help simplify their lives. Members of the organization are encouraging their clients and affiliates to participate in the challenge as way to motivate them to address their clutter in small chunks and to maintain the systems they have in place.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for people to be part of something big,” says Jean Furuya, Faithful Organizers executive director. “Getting organized ranks 4th in New Year’s resolutions. This challenge will motivate participants to do a quick, daily project to see how simple it is to accomplish even the smallest of tasks. We are addressing several different aspects of organization including time management, productivity and household clutter. It is our hope that the feeling of success will continue beyond the challenge to where organizing becomes a daily activity.”
Plan 30 minutes for each task and set your timer!!
You can also access the daily challenges through a link on the Faithful Organizers website: http://www.faithfulorganizers.com and om their Facebook page: Facebook.com/Faithful Organizers.
Order Your Steps is coming up on our 5th anniversary in September and it continues to be a very fascinating & enlightening, yet challenging journey. We have visited with more than 100 clients at various stages of their lives. Most of our clients have very hectic schedules and/or “retired” with very hectic schedules.
So, as professional organizers, how do we customize the process of getting organized, just for you? Each person is soooo VERY different. Thus, our Challenge, to understand just how much time and money are you willing to invest?
We often know what we want, but we are not always sure what it might take to get there….
Organizing Process Customization Requirements
1. We can’t do it without you!
In order for an organizing project to be successful, you must be TOTALLY engaged in the process and willing to make decisions quickly. If you are really not sure if you want to give it away, keep it and move on.
We now make sure that we take breaks periodically and drink plenty of water.
Music also helps too!
2. It’s going to take TIME ! “Rome was definitely not built in a day!”
In my experience, thus far, clients are willing to invest, on the average about 6 hours!
We can get A LOT done is 6 hours, however, the pace must be fast and smooth. I must admit that my pace is a lot faster than most! 🙂 … Working through the entire organizing process; to sort, purge and organize, is not always easy, I just happen to love it!
3. We both must have Realistic Expectations! “We can’t eat the elephant!
Oftentimes, we expect miraculous results in a day, when in actually, it took months, maybe if years to accummulate the clutter that needs to be eliminated. We must break it down into bite-size pieces.
We will divide the project into phases and prioritize the areas that are most important to you. For large jobs, we will usually spend the first session or two, pre-sorting into various categories, which makes the purging process a whole lot easier.
4. It’s going to take a financial investment!
Know your budget…Organizing is an investment in your physical space, spiritual well being & peace of mind. My mission, as a professional organizer, is to give you your money’s worth in my time and expertise. 
I’m currently working with a client whose project started in December. When we first met, there was a sense of mild desperation in her voice. She was just frustration with the clutter in her home and the disorder in her life. We initially focused on her bedroom suite and then on to her office. We have worked together for only 8 hrs., just once a month, but she has been fully engaged in the process. We have completed her master walk-in closet, dresser & dresser drawers, under the bed, sitting room with bookcase and bathroom!
She has a very hectic work schedule, so she has not been able to do homework assignments. However, she has maintained her space and now her teenage children have noticed that she spends a LOT more time in her bedroom sanctuary in Peace and Serenity.
Organizing is TOTALLY worth your time, commitment and money …. Your Heart and Determination will help to establish the Order!!
We will customize the process to meet ALL your needs, because we are confidence about how much better your life will be.
My guest blogger today is Jane Campbell. Jane is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. Jane has many callings: writer, professional organizer, a representative for a cabinet organizing product, ShelfGenie and a lifelong student of psychology. She is guided by the principle that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Jane loves all things that make homes safer, more efficient and more hospitable. She is going to help us better understand “Why we HIDE our mail?”
Are you one of those folks who hide mail in a bag, until the time “when you can get to it?”
Speaking as a professional organizer who has decluttered an 11-room house whose floor was pretty much carpeted with papers, I must warn you that that can be a slippery slope.
The “paperless society” never got here. Paper–much of which still comes to us through snail mail–seems to be a law unto itself. Some Catch-22’s from that law:
1) The more you ignore what comes in the mail, the faster it can come.
For example, if you try to ignore the bills that come to you in the mail, more and more bills will only get sent.
2) The longer you wait to deal with the mail, the more useless some of that paper will become.
For example, if someone mails you a check, and you don’t cash it by the “cash by” date on the check, you may never get your money. Also, if your bank has made an error and you don’t correct it within 60 days, they don’t have to let you correct it.
3) That time “when you can get to it” is either now, or never.
The mail has a lot in common with bananas. Would you put bananas in a bag and let them sit for a month? Not if you value your sense of smell.
I have a client named John. The other day I said this to John: “Old John used to put things in a pile without a specific plan to go back through it, at a specific time. New John has better habits than that.” John agreed.
Some habits I’ve suggested to John:
“Wash and iron” the mail. Open each envelope and throw the envelope in recycling. Straighten out the pages. If there is more than one page, and you can’t put it all in recycling right away, staple all the pages together. E pluribus unum. Move on to the next envelope and repeat this process until all the mail is out of the envelopes and all the envelopes are in recycling. Put the mail into a neat stack.
At this point, you might get interrupted. If you can possibly leave the mail in a neat stack before you attend to the interruption, please do so.
Go through the stack of mail as soon as you can get back to it. One thing may leap out at you as being the most important thing to deal with right now. Deal with that thing. You may feel you can put off dealing with the whole stack right now. Maybe you can. But, 1) try to go through the whole stack before you make this judgment, and 2) come back to the stack as soon as you can, within 24 hours at the most. Keep coming back to the stack, and keep dealing with the most urgent thing. When something has been dealt with, put it somewhere else. File it, if you must. Now you can safely put it in a bag, if you must. Put it in recycling, if you possibly can.
Follow these simple procedures, and you’ll start to feel better about things in bags . .
I hope that you enjoyed and found this information helpful!
A Special Thanks to you, Jane, and we hope that you will come back and visit with us again!
WISHING YOU AND YOURS A BLESSED AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
