Simplified Organization: Learn to Love What Must Be Done

by Mystie Winckler

In my simplistic, childish worldview, it seemed like a dichotomy. You choose mom at home, or you choose stuff.

On the one hand, we believe homemaking is meaningful work, yet on the other hand, we don’t think it takes any real training, education, or skill.

Our unseen disrespect for homemaking as a vocation affects even those of us who choose it.

The work of homemaking is of utmost value to culture and society, whether or not that culture and society values it.

Homes, after all, shape people. Those people, in turn, shape the culture, society, nation, and world into the next generations.

Let’s not be surprised when that level of influence demands difficult, time-consuming work.

Instead, being organized is being prepared and ready for whatever comes from God’s fatherly hand.

However, it took ten because of the stubborn years I spent denying that my messy habits and poor management practices were a problem. I didn’t need a hack or some new secret sauce. I needed a kick in the pants. God knew what I needed when I did not and sent that kick in the pants through many means.

In the first chapter of Loving the Little Years, she started with: “There is only one thing in my entire life that must be organized. The kids can be running like a bunch of banshees through a house that appears to be at the bottom of a toaster, and yet, if organization and order can still be found in my attitude, we are doing well.” I read that, stunned. I realized all my attempts at organization were aimed at my material circumstances rather than my heart and attitude. I needed to organize my attitude before I would get any traction in organizing my home.

My hope is that this book will help you skip the angst of avoiding the work so you can cut to the chase and learn to love what must be done because the work is good work.

I believe God is calling women out of the feminist lie that we are not fulfilled by homemaking and into the glorious truth that we can love the work and dance within the rhythms of life.

Our effectiveness in the world at large as women begins when we are effective in our homes, because homes are where people start, land, and connect. There is no greater privilege than to be given a home to run. We can and should glory in our duty as we learn the ropes of doing it faithfully.

good work is supposed to take our time and our energy.

Our time and our energy are gifts given to us to be invested in God’s kingdom for His glory.

overwhelmed. One way to handle a flooding mental spiral is to sit down and declutter the most chaotic place of all: your head.

A brain dump is simply writing down everything that pops into your thoughts. Write down whatever is on your mind—on

Once you see all the things that are vying for your attention, you’ll immediately feel clearer and calmer because your mental energy will be free...

Worry is best handled by prayer.

Instead of feeling like your many vague, strangling emotions are driving, you take the driver’s seat by getting specific and writing things down, praying through your thoughts as you go.

Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

So instead of allowing my feelings to stall out and remove me from the game, I use them as a cue to simply start with the easiest, most obvious task, which is usually a chore that causes internal revolt.

Doing one small job is the fastest remedy I know to stop feeling like a failure.

Sanctification is the process of the supernatural fruits of the Spirit becoming more and more natural to us as we ask God for them and willingly put them into practice as the need arises.

Our fretfulness is replaced with curiosity about what God is doing now in and through us. Our spiraling negativity is replaced by gratitude for all the ways God has called us to serve. Our inner turmoil is replaced by a willingness to practice kindness and gentleness instead, stepping into the good work before us with humble joy. God’s sanctification plan for our life consists of replacements like these.

I learned how to operate from a joy-based mode rather than a stress-based mode.

My goal isn’t to avoid feeling overwhelmed, but to do the right thing with that feeling: pray.

My goal isn’t to avoid feeling overwhelmed, but to do the right thing with that feeling: pray.

Over the years, I learned to pray and do the next thing without worrying about how “everything” would get done.

It’s better to do less than you hoped than to do nothing at all. —James Clear, Atomic Habits

Our struggles are opportunities to mature in Christ.

Instead of looking for the perfect solution that will fix all our problems, we can rejoice in everything and walk in faithful obedience, right where we are.

We are called to faithfulness, and part of faithfulness is recognizing that we are weak, incapable of handling everything that comes our way—yet we have a dependable, fully capable God who gives us the strength that we need, not necessarily to be the most awesome version of ourselves, but rather to be loving, faithful servants who are ready and willing and excited to see God be awesome in our lives.

We can rely on Him to work through our feeble efforts. God gives us good work, and then God uses that work for His own ends, which is His own glory and our sanctification. He does all things well.

Instead, we can choose to practice, to make progress, and to give up on our false hopes of being “done.”

We need a strategy to replace our desire for perfectionism. I call this strategy iteration. To iterate means to perform repeatedly,

A routine you make after experimentation and reflection will be better, more applicable, more personal. By trying out an imperfect plan rather than waiting until you have everything just so, you discover what works for you and what doesn’t. By iterating, your plans and systems can grow and adapt to fit your life as it unfolds.

What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. —Martin Luther

Homemaking is not about mastering cleaning lists and chores but about loving and serving people, making homes in which they—and we—can flourish.

Homemaking is a service of love to those who live in and enter our home.

But what makes us homemakers is our orientation and demeanor, not our tasks alone.

We tend to see repetition as a problem because we’re focused on being done.

job as homemaker isn’t to be done with the work; it is to continually hit the reset button.

Often, viewing our work at home as a job is part of what makes us discouraged by it.

So when it comes to managing a home, we flounder. There is no time clock, no hourly rate, no company-imposed checklist. There are no deadlines; there are no paychecks. All the affirmations and credit we’re used to are gone. No wonder we struggle.

The home is a business, not a job.

Instead of noticing myself, I was noticing the world around me. Instead of thinking about how that world was affecting me, I was noticing how I was affecting the world. In this way, I stopped smack-talking repetitious work. Instead of calling mundane tasks pointless, I called them stewardship, ways to bless others.

Organization is being prepared to graciously handle life as it happens

Often, we attempt to control the chaos from the wrong end, cutting down the amount of life lived rather than increasing the amount of maintenance applied.

It’s less about the house being organized and more about organizing our own habits and expectations.

We coordinate ourselves, our stuff, our space, and our people in order to more effectively and more abundantly live out the mission God has given us.