“Jill, Stop Moving the Furniture!”
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”
My wife grew up in a small community in south-central Pennsylvania. She lived in the same house until she went to college. Her big habit was regularly moving the furniture around her room every couple of weeks. In a comforting, consistent upbringing, Jill’s way of creating transformation in her life was to move the furniture. Throughout our marriage, Jill continued to move the furniture. She also painted different rooms of our home so often that the layers of paint made the room smaller.
Meanwhile, growing up, I moved so often that I attended twelve schools between kindergarten and tenth grade. I grew to dislike constant change in my home. I loved having the furniture in the same place year after year. I hungered for stability after moving into a new home every nine or ten months.
Both of us were trying our best we knew how to transform the lives we were given. In Moody’s article “How To Reset Your Life,” Dani Moody provides four steps to hit life’s reset button without moving the furniture. First, Moody recommends you “reset your space.” A reset does not mean moving the darn furniture, Jill! Instead, it means creating a clean space because a cluttered space echoes a cluttered mind. Decluttering includes everything from cleaning, to throwing out unused items, to organizing your computer email.
Next, Moody calls the reader to “set new goals.” She calls us to make specific goals. Perhaps setting the goal of one new piece of furniture every three years will help Jill know change will occur periodically, and she will refrain from moving everything. Third, Moody challenges us to “Let Go.” Sometimes we move around the mental furniture, or baggage, in our lives but never get rid of the pieces that are no longer working. Finally, Moody expects us to “Embrace the Imperfect.” We all have flaws. No matter how frequently we move our mental furniture, perfection will always allude us. Learning to accept what cannot be changed frees us from the bondage of desiring the impossible.
Today, reflect on the frustrations in your life. Rather than addressing frustrations directly, we often move the mental furniture, avoiding the real issues. Moody’s recommendation to take a reset on your life can provide the inner confidence and control necessary to create a meaningful life. One suggestion I would add to Moody’s reset process is to push the reset on one’s faith. Even someone with a deep faith in God would benefit from spiritual reflection. Darn, I guess it helps to move your spiritual furniture now and then. But, please, do not tell Jill I made that recommendation!
