March Read: Ordering Your Private World

I must admit that in the big scheme of things organizing might at times sometimes seem trivial.  Life is by nature disorganized, with countless situations that are out of our control; illness, job loss, divorce, death in the family just to name a few. Turn on the news any day of the week and you can soon be wallowing in reports of the sorrow in our world. Depressing to say the least. So why focus on organizing your home at all? Does it even matter?

Of course as an organizer, I believe organizing your home is tremendously valuable in creating space for the life you want, but I was still intrigued when I picked up this months read.  In the March read, author Gordon MacDonald questions how to find strength when life seems to come at you from all angles. In Ordering Your Private World, MacDonald states,

There must be a quiet place where all is in order, a place from which comes the energy that overcomes turbulence and is not intimidated by it.

The idea of organizing your inner world intrigued me. As I read, I was pleasantly surprised to find practical tips to evaluate what is important as you order your life around your priorities. Now, he isn’t talking about when to answer email or schedule your chores, instead he really gets down to the nitty gritty of our spirit. He discussed 5 sectors to order and evaluate in your private world: motivation, use of time, wisdom and knowledge, spiritual strength, and restoration.

Read It

I would recommend this book for anyone; beyond just those who are feeling exhausted and worn down. I gained insight and felt refocused to look at what really matters most in my life.

Skip It

If you are not yet in the place of your life where your are ready to make a deliberate decision to change your private world. Wait for your own season of change.

Favorite Excerpt

People worked hard in the days of my childhood, very hard. But they generally knew when to stop working…

Has it occurred to you how often we talk about our fatigue? I sometimes have the feeling that if I don’t tell my friends how tired I am they will doubt that I am doing anything worthwhile. Try telling someone that you feel great, that you are at the top of your game, that you’ve never been better. The chance are that they will suspect that you’re putting them on…that you lack sincerity.

How did we get to a day when stress and fatigue are almost a badge of success?

…fixed – what one must do and the discretionary – what one would like to do.

The challenge is to determine the difference between the two and deliberately decide how you will spend your discretionary time. Otherwise, you won’t know where your time has gone, just as you don’t know where your money went without a budget.

Gordon MacDonald emphasizes through out the book, its in our hands to make a “deliberate decision to begin the ‘ordering’ process.” Just as our home won’t magically fall into order; nor will our private world fall in to place by itself without effort.

What do you deliberately make time for in your life? Any other fans or haters of Ordering Your Private World?

Money via Dave Ramsey