It was a bright Thursday morning, and it was the day. 

The day I was going to return the hodgepodge of Crate & Barrel items that had been sitting under our kitchen counter for over a month. The wrinkled bag of odds and ends had sat there since our wedding, inviting other bags, shoes, and whatnot to cluster around it, too. Clutter begets clutter. 

I’d passed by that bag of returns so many times (too many to count each day), and eventually, I stopped noticing it. I could sense the clutter and disorganization, but those returns stopped being a vivid, clear to-do long before. Over time, a general sense of disease grew. It may sound dramatic, but you know this feeling—where your space isn’t what you need it to be, and it slowly starts blocking the calm, creative, peaceful, still parts of your mind. Physical clutter quickly becomes mental clutter. It’s real; how we care for our space matters. It affects us. 

So, on that bright Thursday morning, I lugged the (really quite heavy!) bag of returns to the UPS store and shipped them off to their next home. It took some shuffling in the store to get all the items matched with their proper labels and receipts, but by golly, we did it! God bless that UPS employee. 

The feeling inside my chest as I drove away from the store was unparalleled. Bliss, relief, freedom, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment swirled inside me. Returning those items was one small task, but knowing the clutter wouldn’t be waiting for me at home cleared up so much mental clarity. I felt a lightness in my breath. There’s no feeling quite like checking returns off the to-do list. 

I share this story to say our physical space matters. How we care for what God’s given us matters. Both for how we honor Him and also for our own mental sake. He’s so sweet like that, to bake in wellness and good health for us as we honor, respect, and worship Him. 

If we’re living in a chaotic cluster of “stuff”—you know, the things we don’t quite know what to do with, so they end up living on our counters for weeks—we will eventually feel that disorder within. 

If you’re feeling off or in a funk, may I offer one suggestion, question, and perhaps a call to take ownership of a different part of your life?

Look around your home. As you scan the space, what’s one thing you could do to relieve a little pressure? To check that one lingering, pesky task off your list? Do you need to take the bathroom trash out? Clean your shower? Hang the shelf in your office? Go through the stack of mail and toss what you don’t need?

When it comes to our health and well-being, we can’t do everything to take care of ourselves. We can’t control environmental toxins or how the food supply is treated or what chemicals corporate companies pour into their food products. But we can tackle one task in front of us and take steps in the right direction. My friend Gaëlle says, “A lot of tiny steps in the right direction are what take us to a healthier lifestyle.” I love that. Each decision and act adds up to our overall lifestyle and well-being. 

I’m always surprised how knocking out one task around the apartment leaves me feeling so much better. I may have just taken one bag out of the space, but you would have thought I conquered the world based on how good I felt afterward. These small acts of love for our space matter. And I want that relief and renewed capacity for creativity and dreaming for me and for you. 

So what’s it going to be? What’s one thing you can do to tend to your home—and ultimately your soul—today? Let me know in the comments; I’d love to cheer you on!