Why I Tidy Up Before Bed
How important is it to have a clean home? Here is why cleaning up before bed can help your soul.
“Every night before I go to bed, I try to make sure the dishes are done and the house is picked up. It really helps my day go better when I get up to a house that’s not a mess.”
Simple words, spoken to me in an otherwise unremarkable moment of conversation with my grandma, a bit of life wisdom handed down to a newly married granddaughter. But those words stuck with me, and while I didn’t realize it at the time, I was being handed a gift from one generation to another. Her simple advice turned into a simple evening routine that had the power to reset not only my house, but myself.
Much has been said about the power of making our bed every morning, or throwing our clothes into the hamper rather than leaving them on the floor or draped at the foot of the bed. Minimalism has become a popular approach to home decor and design, with one well-known method encouraging us to tidy our homes by organizing and retaining only the objects in our homes that “spark joy.”
It seems we feel better and function better when our spaces aren’t cluttered with mess. But this isn’t a new concept. “A place for everything and everything in its place” is a proverb often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, and surely I can’t be the only mom who heard this as a child and now quotes it to my own children when the house gets out of control!
Our God is a powerful Creator, one who brought order to the cosmos. From vast celestial galaxies to the micro intricacies of a cell, we see in his designs the beauty of structure.
In 1 Corinthians 14:33, Paul tells us, “God is not a God of disorder or confusion but of peace.” While this passage comes from a larger section of Scripture concerning order in gathered worship, a more universal principle can be drawn from it—namely, that God is a God of order and peace and not one of disorder and confusion.
Sin always brings destruction and chaos. We can easily see that in the excess of anxiety-ridden disorder in our world today, all of it originating from the enemy. And so God brings order, not as a legalistic, harsh parent, bent on keeping all the toys in the toybox and books on the shelves for the sake of strict order, but as one who made us, loves us, and knows us. He knows how we will function best and what will make us most happy and at peace in him.
Our kids’ desks, generally in a state of barely controlled chaos, are perfect examples of this concept. Meant to be a place for creating, writing, and drawing, they quickly become the temporary landing place for random odds and ends when we do a quick 5-minute pick up, or the semi-permanent home for items we don’t want to pitch but don’t have a place for.
The phrase “your desks need cleaned today” elicits more groans and do-we-have-to’s than any other. But once the dreaded task is done, my kids will sit for hours, candles lit, as they craft and create at their freshly organized desks. As parents, we invite (require) order in this way not so that the desks will stand empty and clean, proud symbols of organization, but so that they can be used and enjoyed.
And so it is with our own spaces…we bring order not so that our homes will be minimalistic, sterile environments with nothing out of place, a monument to our cleaning abilities, but so that they can be used and enjoyed. Even Marie Kondo eventually realized this, saying, “I realised always maintaining the perfect state of tidiness was not my goal, but spending time with my kids is. That’s what really sparks joy.”
At the end of the day, usually later than I’d like, I tidy up the kitchen one last time, placing any random glasses in the sink (apologies to my husband, who comes looking for said glass within minutes of my cleaning up), toss the throw pillows back on the couch, gather together the abandoned lego pieces, art supplies, books, and various childhood trinkets and treasures to be put away the next day, and turn off the lights.
In the morning, I’ll wake up to a clean space, a fresh slate as it were, upon which to start writing the details of the day, without the detritus of yesterday cluttering the edges. It doesn’t make me a better Christian or a better human, but this simple act of tidying up my space is a nightly reset that breathes fresh life into my home and my spirit.
And in the morning, as I sit with my Bible and a cup of coffee, the cleared physical space has created a cleared mental space, leaving room for the Spirit to speak. And those quiet moments with him push back against the chaos and disorder of the enemy as the Spirit brings order and peace to my spirit.
