How I hate a mess!

"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;" Psalm 16:9a
Note: Glory is a poetic expression for the soul, the glorious part of a human being.
(NKJV, 1991)

How I hate a mess!

No, that's not true. Not entirely true that is.

There are many types of mess, some distinctly unpleasant, some too far gone to remedy, and I do deplore that kind. But then there is other mess, not so far gone, still within the realm of possibility. That's not so bad. With that kind of mess there's still hope of sorting it all out.

Maybe you think I'm talking about how my refrigerator needs emptying. Or maybe you think I'm talking about how my attic is a mess. And in a way I am. but I'm not talking about the attic in my house. I'm talking about the attic in my head. Now, there's a mess! The stuff I've got piled up in there! It really is almost in hopeless disarray -- too much in too little space, if you get my drift.

Twenty-five years ago I had a similar experience with the attic in my head. The solution was not so bad. Three beautiful summer months spent by the pool with our (Richard's and my) daughter, Kathleen, staring into space at nothing in particular while in the attic of my mind I sorted and discarded or indexed, cross-referenced and filed tons of neglected, unprocessed and under appreciated stuff.

So, this time I had a precedent. When my mind registered overload, I pulled down the stairs to my attic (metaphorically speaking, of course) and climbed up. I assure you, twenty-five years worth of stuff back then was much easier to manipulate than what I now faced. Now, there was a full 60 years of accumulated life in there! Aghast, I cast about for some organizing principle.

To be continued . . .