>a tidy desk is a sign that you do not have enough to do…

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My study is a bit of a mess at the moment. I think it’s the result of me not working in it properly for about a month so I have dumped stuff in piles, in ‘in trays’ and anywhere there is space. The piles have started getting tall enough to fall over. I sense that it is important right now for me to do some tidying in order to enable me to work more efficiently (or at all!).


The trouble is that while I enjoy having a tidy space in which to live and work I do not enjoy the idea of tidying. It’s invariably a useful exercise when I do it: I uncover papers or other items I thought I had lost and having clear desk space makes it easier for me to concentrate (I am not distracted by wondering what a stray piece of paper is for). But there’s an inertia within me that I will have to overcome in order to make a start.


I think too that I feel that it is perhaps not the best use of my time. There are many other things I could be doing that seem more urgent or important.


I am reminded of something my Pastoral Studies tutor, Bill Allen, told us at College. He advised us at least once a month to have a ‘dustbin day’. That’s a day when we clear our desks, tidy our studies and get rid of anything that we do not need.


That’s not just good advice for Ministers’ studies. It’s good advice for all of us all the time. We should examine ourselves and see if we need to have a clear out, make more space for God or get rid of aspects of our lives that we do not need or are unhelpful. I try not to limit that to once a month!


*****


Weary of constantly picking clothes up from the floor of her son’s room, a mother finally laid down the law: each item of clothing she had to pick up would cost her son 50 pence. 

By the end of the week, he owed her £6.50. She received the money promptly, along with a 50 pence tip and a note that read, “Thanks, Mum. Keep up the good work!”


*****


The bride was anything but a tidy housekeeper. It didn`t bother her much until one evening when her husband called from the hall, somewhat dismayed: “Honey, what happened to the dust on this table? I had a phone number written in it.”