D&C 109:8

8 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;


Have you ever tried to make dinner in a messy kitchen? You try to find the right measuring cup and it's dirty. There's no counter space because there's homework out or playdough, or whatever. You go for an ingredient and it's gone- the kids ate it and you didn't even notice in the chaos. Everything seems to be in an uproar. Well, that's how I'd feel, anyhow. But, now think of walking down to the kitchen to cook and all the counters are cleared off, no clutter, and they have been wiped clean, just waiting for you to cook away. All the dishes are clean, no need to rinse something off real quick so you can use it. The recipe book is tucked away in it's designated spot ready for you to pull it out make something wonderful. You're not having to go put your shoes on to cook, because the floors have been swept clean and therefore no crunching underfoot. Wouldn't you feel more creative in the clean kitchen? More calm? More ready for a challenge? More of a willingness to take on the task of making dinner?

I think our lives can be like my messy kitchen scenario. Sometimes are lives are full of clutter- literal clutter, negative thoughts, and sin. We might be a little "messy" or lax in our attitude towards our callings, or our responsibilites. We may be unorganized in our approach to prayer and fasting and scripture study, having no real schedule or habit formed. We may be a little unprepared- missing essential ingredients to Heavenly Father's plan.

Heavenly Father has said that we need to clean out the clutter in our lives. We need to get organized, prepared. We need to make our homes be homes of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, full of glory and order. I think he means this literally. Our homes need to be organized and in order to function at their true potential. But, I think He is also referring to cleaning out the "messy" in our lives. We need to repent. We need to pray and read our scriptures regularly. We need to prepare ourselves and our families for the Second Coming. And, we need to cut out the clutter in our lives like bad language, movies, books or music, negative friends, anything that distracts us from becoming closer to our Heavenly Father.

I know that if we put our homes and most importantly, our lives, in order Heavenly Father will bless us so that we can live up to our true potential. We will be more excited to take on the challenges of life, we'll be more creative, and calm, and ready to make a masterpiece of our lives!

Love ya,
Sister Norman