Sit, Pray, and Then Rearrange…

Every few months I rearrange a room in my life. I say “in my life” and not “in my house” because sometimes the room that gets rearranged is my office at the church or my boyfriend’s house (when he isn’t paying attention). I will be the first to say that change for the sake of change is not worth the effort and some look at rearranging furniture as just that, change for the sake of change. You can ask just about anyone who has known me for any amount of time (over a year) that this is what I do. When I was younger I would rearrange my bedroom at least every 6 weeks or so. My first job as a lifeguard, I rearranged the staff break room every few months, I rearranged the boss’ office once (he was not real happy at first… but realized he was more productive after I put things in “a new light”.) When I was in college I rearranged my dorm room almost every time I was on duty as an RA. In seminary, well you get the idea. When you move even one thing in a room to a new location, it changes everything. Don’t believe me? Give it a try, after you finish reading this blog. J

In the past this urgency to move things around was alleviated by the fact that I had to move in and out of dorm rooms for 4 years during undergrad. Then it was curbed by moving from one apartment to another while in seminary. When I moved back to West Virginia after graduating from seminary, I moved into a gigantic church parsonage that allowed me to rearrange things with endless possibility. When I moved in 2010 to Iowa I found myself again excited for the new possibility to “rearrange” my life.

I can’t explain “strange habit” as some friends call it, except to say that when the urge to rearrange happens, I cannot run from it or it consumes me and I become completely paralyzed in life and ministry. After a great deal of introspection about this I have come to know that this is simply the pattern of my life. One I don’t know I should be overly proud of because I have learned after MANY frustrating years that I always feel the desire to shift things around when I have lost my connection with God’s will in my life.

The first thing when I feel this urge building is sit in silence in the room or the space that I have the feeling in, then I pray about where the feeling is coming from, I know this might sound like an odd thing to pray about but there is a reason the particular room or space I am in is distracting me and I have listen in the silence of my prayers to figure it out. Then, sometimes after several weeks of praying, I rearrange.

Sometimes that rearranging is simply moving a picture to a different wall. Sometimes it is completely changing the room around and sometimes even changing the purpose of the room. For example a spare bedroom might become a meditation space or walk-in closet and anyone who comes to visit will have to bring an air mattress or sleep on the couch. Sometimes the rearranging is a complete relocation, new place in the same town or even the extreme of a new place in a new town (don’t worry this is not a blog saying I’m moving-I AM NOT MOVING!)

Sit, pray, and then rearrange. This has become my practice sometimes a little sporadic I must admit but, most definitely when I feel the Spirit moving me. If you have read this far you have probably thought at least once in reading “she has lost her mind, she thinks God is telling her to rearrange furniture”. That is not what I believe is happening at all. I do believe however, that once I give into the desire to rearrange even just two pictures on the night stand I am more open to the big things God put in front of me. Noah had to build an ark, Jonah got stuck in the belly of a fish, Moses was talked to out of a burning bush, Mary stood face to face with a messenger from God, and Paul was blinded by a great light and then regained his vision all these people saw, heard, and experienced their continued call to do the work of God in unconventional unbelievable ways.  I suppose, even if others don’t understand my process, I should count myself lucky that all God has to do, right now, to regain my attention is urge me to move something around.

Sit, pray, and then rearrange. Sit, pray, and then rearrange. Sit, pray, and then rearrange. Sit, pray, and then rearrange. Sit, pray, and then rearrange.

Off to do just that…