Calm and Clutter Free?

It has been a long time since I last blogged. Where does time go? Here we are halfway through the year as I read my list of goals from last January's post. I thought about how many I've accomplished and how far I have to go. Today I'll evaluate the first one. The first was to create a calm, clutter free home. I've come a long way on that one,but find it is a daily struggle. It would be easy if there were just me, but I share my daily life with a husband, a tweenage girl and three dogs, one of which is a now 9 month old Lab puppy named Maddie (Madalyn when she's in trouble) and a grown son who fortunately has his own apartment. Even though they live across the country, I also share my life with another son and his wife who is the daughter of my heart. They are my go to when I need adult thoughts and conversation about anything and everything. I learn so much from them.
As far as clutter goes, I have over the months given or thrown out many things after asking myself "Do I love it?"or " Do I need It?"or "Have I used it or worn it in the past year?" I've rearranged "my" bedroom (the spare bedroom I call my sanctuary) creating a place to watch a video or HGTV and do some needlework while sitting in my rocker. I've made a cozy home office in a corner behind the door with my desk and pictures of my favorite people, places and my collection of angels. That is where I am blogging right now. My tweenager and I have painted and redecorated her bedroom to be a calm clutter free refuge. However, remember that she is a tweenager after all so clutter free is a moment to moment thing.

I find I have to really work on the calm part of the goal. People in northern parts of the country suffer from cabin fever in the winter. Because of the extreme heat here (The temp and humidity are both in the 90's!) I spend a lot of time indoors so I have cabin fever in the summer. Sure I go out late in the day or early in the morning to water plants and walk the dogs, but otherwise I run from air conditioning to air conditioning with no stopping in between! We do swim in our above ground pool which gives some relief.
As far as calm goes, that seems to be a frame of mind, which I confess is a daily struggle. I feel calmer on the days I have prayer and a Bible study and do some needlework. I am working on a project for the new grandchild due in January.

Overall, I feel like I've come a long way on this goal, but must continue to work on it daily to keep it up. I have to remember Phillippians 4:13 daily which says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".