Establishing a House of Order

Doctrine & Covenants 109:8

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;

I'm hoping that by working on the "house of order" part this week, it will help me to in turn create an environment where I can better establish a house of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, and ultimately a house of God.

Over the past few months I've done things like hang a simple hook to hang my wok on, put up a cabinet in the kitchen for my microwave and for storage, commit to a regular floor-sweeping regime, organize the bathroom counter, arrange the nursery, etc. I've seen the light and had a change of heart concerning the cleanliness of my kitchen. If only I could have the same resolution about clutter and laundry...not to imply that either is tolerable to my fragile anxiety.

So this week, my efforts to "prepare every needful thing" have been to stock up on diapers and frozen dinners, anticipate the things I'll need the first few weeks with a newborn, put away Christmas, delegate my RS responsibilities, etc. Anticipating that we will be buying a dresser in a few weeks with our tax return, I went and got it this week so that at least that much more of my life can be in order before the baby comes. It took me approximately 5 hours to put together, but it is solid and sturdy and will undoubtedly meet our needs. Of course, it is so big that it didn't fit in the spot I had designated for it, meaning I made Chris rearrange our bedroom furniture at 10:30 last night. Poor guy.

Another preemptive measure to feel like I have a house of order was to put on our new couch cover. I just can't handle the thought of spit-up soaking into our nice couch, so here was a way to minimize that stressor before it ever reared its nasty head.

Incidentally, in the process of vacuuming the couch and scrubbing each cushion before putting on the cover, I found practically an entire box of cheerios, our checkbook, a plethora of pens and pencils, and yes, that long-lost remote control.