Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
If we surround ourselves with things that are lovely, true, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, don't you think we'd be more likely to dwell on such things?
When you picture heaven, or even your own favorite place on earth, is it lovely?
When I picture those places that made me feel at ease or content in the world, they are beautiful. The clear blue-green waters of my favorite quarry, the ocean view on family vacation with mountains kissing the water, and even my favorite quaint, clean coffee shop in Korea all have something in common; they are all lovely, welcoming and peaceful.
View from a glass house in Ubatuba, Brazil.
When we were fortunate enough to stay a couple nights in a glass house in Brazil we woke in the morning to the sun painting the sky in warm colors. We ate breakfast as the rain drizzled and saturated the forest around us. I could not help but be thankful and joyful.
The feeling of calm and gratitude is what I want to create in my own home.
When I see mess, or excess I just think about what needs/should be done and not about all I have to be thankful for. In my bathroom I like to have the things I use everyday readily available and thus they tend to be on the counter. This, however, was becoming a problem with my toddler getting taller and being able to reach more and more things. Everything was just pushed as far back as possible to be out of the toddler grasp and it looked awful.
It came to me that this spot was easily salvageable. Some of the things on the counter were no longer needed every day and could be put under the sink to store, some things I could put in the medicine cabinet and the rest were things I use daily. I remembered I had a wire cabinet shelf that wasn't being used and voila- extra space and everything is still accessible.
It's still not beautiful, but it's no longer reminding me of a chore I need to do. Instead of clutter, I can see all I have and it's all I need.
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