Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Piles & Piles

Piles, piles of stuff. I have many piles. Usually papers and books. Why do I have piles?? I've been asking that question to myself lately. If I put the books that I've been wanting to read on the bookshelf, I will forget that I haven't read them yet, so therefore they must be in a pile by my bed. Magazines...I probably haven't read the last 10 magazines I've received, thus they are in a pile somewhere to read. A pile of unopened mail that I haven't gotten around to yet. A small pile of bills to pay the first of the month. Piles of music to give to students. Piles of music to put back on the shelf. A pile of music to go through and see what I want to keep. A pile of dishes in the sink to wash (or load into the dishwasher). Piles of folded clothes (or not so folded) to put away.

I have some excuses for these piles, but I don't know if they are really valid reasons to have piles or not. It takes energy to take care of a pile, whether it be reading the material or washing the dishes...many days I don't have much energy when I get home (at least not for that kind of stuff) so a lot of times I wait for a day that I can get up in the morning and have a fresh start on this stuff (i.e., Saturday). Saturdays are great days to sort through piles!

Another excuse is that I tend to be a visual person and will totally forget about something if it has been "stored away" somewhere.

And the last reason to have piles is that there is no place yet designated to store the aforementioned "stuff."

The bad thing about having piles is that you get used to it. And sometimes I let things "pile up" in my spiritual life. Whoops. Forgot to have my devotions for the last 5 days...now I have to read 10 chapters of Deuteronomy in one sitting (as an example). Can I really make it a point/habit to take care of some of these things EVERY day??

There is a whole lot of accomplishment derived from taking care of a pile. Sometimes it is very freeing to get things taken care of in the short term and not have a whole pile of "dishes" or whatever sitting in the sink. So I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just trying to figure out why I do things the way I do and if they should be done that way or not.

5 comments:

Annie said...

Okay, you totally READ my mind! I was just looking at my computer desk thinking, I need to go through all these piles! Weird! Thanks for the thoughts! I too am a visual person, if it's not out, I forget about it! We are so much alike Beth!!!

bethoven said...

Weird! ;)

Anonymous said...

May I use your thoughts for my workshop at Ladies Retret next week on "The Blessings of a Disciplined Life?"

bethoven said...

sure...I can be the bad example...

Anonymous said...

I hate piles.