Why order is important

There is no space in or around the sink. A stainless steel bowl, to the right of the sink, is full of stuff which is soaking. Not everything fits in the bowl. To the left of the sink, on the drainer, are more things, washed yesterday but not yet put away. I take a deep breath and start. One thing at a time.

Until I notice the outdoor sun-blocking blind just outside the kitchen window. Today is the first time this summer that I have used it and the back of the blind is covered in cobwebs. I consider going out to brush them off, but it is too hot out there.

Which reminds me that the cat is outside. Is she too hot? I brave the heat and find her sprawled in the shade. She meows at me contentedly. But then I notice the tomato plants nearby. I had planned to buy some bird netting today to protect the new fruit … but it is too hot to venture to the shops just now. I look at the dry soil. Should I water them in the heat of the day? Probably not. Should I pour my used coffee grounds (currently in an unwashed coffee pot) with water on them tonight though? I go back in and look up ‘coffee grounds’ and ‘tomato plants’ on the internet.

Back to the kitchen and to the remainder of the dishes….. Not only is the outside blind covered in cobwebs but the inside window sill is pretty dirty too. I take down the pot plants and miniature birds, one at a time. I wipe them over and, in the case of the indoor plants, water them. At which point, I realise that it has been a long time since I fertilised the African violet. Now where is that fertiliser?

Trying to impose order in my little home, let alone life, feels never-ending. Chinese has a great phrase for it – 没完没了 – without finish and without completion.

Order in life

Order is finally somewhat restored inside my kitchen, at least. I put the kettle on and sit down to ask the Lord what he would have me write about today. Putting in time on a regular blog is another part of the order I want in my life.

Whether it is God nudging me or just where I’m at right now, I decide to write about ‘order’. So – here we are – sitting inside with a journal and a now cool cat whom I forced inside against her will. It was 36 degrees out there and she is an old fat cat. I think it is too hot for her out there, even if she disagrees.

I love my little home. But just sometimes, I think I would like to join a modern Protestant nunnery … something like the Anglican order behind the popular books and television show, ‘Call the Midwife.’ I am attracted by the orderly lifestyle of such an institution. Their emphasis on order is why they call such religious orders ‘orders’.

I don’t believe that God has called me to a religious order, however. I’m quietly confident that right here, right now, is where I should be. That is another story. Suffice to say that it is up to me to impose order on my life rather than submit myself to someone else’s idea of order.

Hence this blog post.

God’s order and creativity

God reveals himself (in part) through all he has made and sustains. In creation, I find ample evidence of his orderliness and creativity.

Day and night – summer and winter – oxygen in and carbon dioxide out for people and animals, but the reverse for plants – birth, maturation and even ageing and death in its time – all around us, we see order. When order is disrupted, we sense dis-ease (lack of ease) … dis-ease in our world (floods, fires, avalanches, wars etc) and, of course, dis-ease in our bodies (viruses, aches and pains, premature death etc).

Within the orderliness of creation, we also see evidence of God’s creativity. Colours – bird calls – animal designs – natural beauty – his hand is evident in it all. As God’s image bearers, we are also creative. We make beautiful things within various structures – music – art – gardens – architecture – cuisine – fashion – literature and more.

Yet sometimes order breaks down and we end up with danger, ugliness and mess. Just think, for example, about houses that have not been built safely, food that has not been hygienically handled, bodies that have been abused by unhealthy lifestyles, ‘music’ that is performed by people uninterested in scales or arpeggios, or even a kitchen sink overflowing with dirty dishes.

And at times, of course, for no reason other than that we live in a broken world, we suffer disease, both physical and dis-ease as in a lack of peace……

A challenge

I said earlier that there are aspects of life in a religious order that appeal to me. But a religious order is not where I sense God would have me right now.

Here in my own little unit in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, I have the unique privilege of (mostly) managing my own time. I am generously supported by kind people who believe in the value of what I am and do. Yet in order to do and be all that I sense God has called me to do and be, I need order in my daily life. As do we all.

Simply ‘being’ – being a woman of God in a world which needs him – is a role I relish. I am talking here of ‘being’ our Lord’s representative as I interact with people from various backgrounds, some of whom barely even know that there is a Creator God. These days, such interactions mostly come through language lessons, whether as a teacher or a student. The Bible talks about us being light, being salt and being the fragrance of life (or the stench of death) … but even just ‘being’ takes intentionality. It takes time and energy, planning and turning up to simply ‘be’ as I spend time with other people. To maximise ‘being’ with others, I need order in my life.

Having time to learn and to think about things that matter, things that can impact what we do as well as how and why we do them, is also something I appreciate. I am thinking here about a couple of different roles I enjoy in academia and various networks. But those flashes of insights only come as a result of hours of reading, writing, listening, discussing, praying and good-old-fashioned thinking. Again, order is necessary.

One of my hobbies, of course, is writing, and that includes this blog post. This format has a particular order to it. It calls for small sections with various headings to break up the text into bite-sized chunks. I’d love to learn to write poetry, but the ideal order of rhythm and rhyme is beyond me. Without order in my week, the blog posts wouldn’t get written. Yet one person who is particularly impacted by me sitting down regularly, putting pen to paper then fingers to the keyboard, is myself. If anyone else benefits, that is a bonus. And so I continue to write. And I continue to order my days so that I have time to write.

Herein lies the challenge. How do I create enough order in my life to facilitate these interesting and meaningful activities and identities? Let alone keep on top of domesticity?

A caveat

By the way, I hope you don’t think that I am writing about the importance of order because I struggle to be productive in life. That’s not the case. I will admit, however, to struggling to balance a variety of interesting responsibilities with boring but necessary household and administrative tasks.

Also, just in case you wondered, I am held somewhat accountable for how I use my work hours. I’m not a totally free agent. I won’t bore you with the details, but there are a few lines of accountability in place.

Imitating the God of order in community

As image bearers of God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, we are called to impose order on our environments. We bring order to our homes, workplaces and communities even as we express our creativity. In fact, it is hard, if not impossible to be creative without some sense of order.

But sometimes I get overwhelmed. It is important for me to remember that I am not actually the Unlimited Great God of Order. My abilities and perspective are limited. I am just one part of the community that is God’s people. God is big. I am small.

I would love to have a gorgeous garden, pristine cupboards, incredible output in terms of writing, hours regularly spent with individuals in various roles, healthy gastronomic delights emerging from my kitchen every day and generally contribute well to the various communities to which I belong. But I can’t do it all.

What I can do is to recognise the tension between my desires … many of which are God-given … and my limited resources. I love my flexible lifestyle but recognise that the freedom to do a lot doesn’t equate to the capacity to do everything.

I also recognise that I am part of a community of God’s people and have a role to play there. A role. Perhaps even several roles. But definitely not every role.

The point is ….

Here comes the point of this week’s blog post. It seems so obvious that I hesitate to share it. It’s nothing new, but putting it into words will help me. So … drum roll please……

As the Creator’s image bearer, I have a responsibility to impose order on my environment. That is a necessary part of creativity.

That includes accepting the limitations of my humanity. I have been given flexibility and ability to do some things well … but not everything.

This doesn’t mean that everything in my life is ordered to the nth degree, including banishing webs from the kitchen blind. It also doesn’t meant that I need a routine similar to that imposed by a Mother-Superior-equivalent.

I need to maintain basic order in life in order to be productive. And I need to recognise that committing time and energy to maintaining order is as much a part of my God-ordained work as are the more interesting and enjoyable parts of it.

Disorder versus peace

I would like to finish with a nice ‘proof text’ from the Bible. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention that the context of this verse is not actually about imposing order on our physical environments. It is about maintaining order in corporate worship. The principle is similar, though. It is only when there is order that we can we fully live out our God-given roles as part of a community of God’s people. In this community, each of us have different roles. None of us are called to do or be everything.

And so, as I go into a new week, full of all sorts of interesting activities as well as a few boring ones, I remind myself of this truth:

… God is not a God of disorder but of peace….

1 Corinthians 14:33 NIV

Where there is order, there is peace. Disorder leaders to dis-ease.

Order is important. Now to put these fancy words into action….