Lessons from my Closet

January washes over me with an urge to clean out my closet. Entropy creeps into it every few months. I’ve learned a few good lessons from my closet.

1)      Sometimes less is more.

Most of the time this baby boomer is not a huge fan of the ‘less is more’ movement.  I’ve lived with less and I don’t remember it feeling like more. My husband and I get tickled watching those tiny house shows, because we lived in a very tiny home as newlyweds before it was cool. Before you send me a note to set me straight, I understand the minimalist concept. Materialism can drive bad behaviors. Simplification can free us. And I believe most people like more when it’s their more.

But when it comes to closets, I’m convinced that less is more. Too many clothes make a closet seem smaller in the same way too much furniture makes a room shrink. They also complicate your daily decision of what to wear. For the last two years, I’ve practiced the method of choosing a small number of articles of clothing and moving those to the most convenient 30 inch section of my closet. I mix and match those pieces for the next 3ish months, and then repeat the process with a different selection. It narrows my choices, creating more room in my closet and my head.

Putting limits on anything creates more of something else. Restricting your calendar creates time. We used to block out Tuesday evenings and named them “Terrific Tuesdays” to interject some fun into a busy week. When our kids were growing up, we limited their number of extracurricular activities. They were forced to choose and create some free time on their schedules. Putting limits on your work life creates space for your personal life. Putting limits on your spending, creates financial margin for the future. So sometimes less IS more when you find the right combination of limits for the life you want.

2)      Purpose comes in seasons

I parallel my wardrobe rotation with the seasons of the year. Likewise, seasons of life bring different clothes. Maternity clothes. Career clothes. Bigger clothes. Smaller clothes. I keep a donation basket in one corner of my closet to collect things that have outlived their season of purpose.

Perhaps we should look at life seasons in a similar way. Our purpose can change from one life season to the next. Holding on to an old purpose crowds the new purpose waiting to be birthed in new seasons of life.

3)      Hiding places are a great find!

My closet has been a hiding place. Not just for Christmas gifts, but for me. When I was 8 years old, I set up a corner of my closet where I could write my secret thoughts. When my kids were young, every room in our house was in use and I had no private space of my own. So I cleared out a corner of my closet with a cushion on the floor where I could have my morning devotional time.

In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus instructed us what to pray and it became known as ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ Just before that He recommended that we pray in secret. Some translations say to go into your closet and shut the door. The broader context of this scripture is to do three things privately without making a show out of it: Give, Pray, and Fast. Jesus goes on to say that doing these things publicly has its own reward but doing them in secret has a greater reward.

One of the rewards of the literal or symbolic prayer closet is to get in an environment where you can shut off everything else except Him.  I love the old hymn “Shut in with God in a Secret Place.”  We can pray anywhere, but some conversations with God just need some privacy, where He hears the deep longing of our souls. The movie ‘War Room’ gave public voice to the practice of fighting spiritual battles in your prayer closet, with a fierceness that comes only when we are alone with God. This kind of Hiding Place is a great find, indeed!

You may be searching for ‘less is more’ in an overcrowded life. You may be discovering a new purpose emerging in a new season of life.  Wherever you are and whatever you do, I pray you will find your hiding place where you can get totally lost in His presence.