Transforming the Bedroom to be a Sanctuary

I had a friend stop over at my house the other day for the first time.  I gave her the grand tour of the main floor, but informed her that the upstairs was not in any condition to be seen (it was a mess).  She pushed back at me saying we christian women should be more transparent with one another, not trying to wear these hats of perfection but showing what we really are like.  I knew she was right, and that it was only my pride that was keeping me from showing her the upstairs.  So with the little bit of courage I had I stifled my pride, swallowed hard, and lead the way upstairs.  I cringed as I opened each door to my children's rooms, but the one I mostly did not want to show her was mine.  As we got nearer and nearer so did my apprehension.  I wondered to myself how bad is it?  What is she thinking?  I imagined in my mind that she was thinking that she had no idea what she was getting into.  That she probably thought when I said it was a mess I meant it was a little dusty not piles of books and stuff on my dressers, dirty clothes spilling out the hamper, a bag of gift bags, and a pile of boxes on the floor still from wrapping presents when Christmas was here.  The bed was unmade and completely a mess, and the dust was threatening to suffocate everything.  I didn't even realize it had gotten as bad as it did until we arrived at the threshold of my room and I really took a look around as if seeing my room for the very first time.  Ugh, what happened in here?  How could I have let our room get so bad?  My pride was crushed, but I thought to myself "she did want me to be real with her, so I'm being real."   I wondered if she would ever look the same at me again, but did it matter if she thought better of me then who I am for then it would be a false perception of me.  I think in a very real way we all have false perceptions of others, but that is a thought for another discussion...

Her visiting my home and seeing my upstairs as it really was had effected me by waking me up from the  lackadaisical attitude I had over the cleanliness of my room.  I was  reminded of something I had herd Kay Arthur say regarding the bedroom of a married couple .  She had said something to the effect that it was important that the room be a sanctuary for the couple, that it be kept neat, inviting and warm.  Wow, as I looked around I could see that my room was not even close:(

So the transformation of the room begins:

Day 1

My hubby rearranges the furniture!  I remove the Christmas gift bags and boxes from Christmas and put them away in their proper places.  Wow, what a difference a few simple changes make.  We're both excited about cleaning up the room and start brainstorming on a solution for all the books were reading.

Day 2

We decide that we need a bookshelf in the bedroom so we look online at available options and decide on one that was fairly cheap but not to cheap that it would lean to one side.  We purchased it but there was no time to put it together.

Day 3

We put the book shelf together and decide that it would better fit in the living room.  There is no time to fill the shelves today.

Day 4

I carefully choose the books from my room that will go on the new book shelf.  We have bookshelves in the family room (I know, as I've said before I love to read:) so some go back on them.  Some books from the family room go on the new book shelves and before you know it the shelves are organized and I only have a small pile of books on my night stand.

Now to finish cleaning the bedroom.  As I said earlier there was a lot of dust, so dusting was first.  Everything had to be wiped down.  Next I needed to choose what to put back on the dressers, what should be tossed, and what should be placed somewhere else.  Finally I changed the sheets and made the bed.

Whew!  Our sanctuary is completed!!!  The goal now is to keep it clean:)

Day 5

Got up and made my bed and picked up clothes from floor.  Good Start:)

Day 6

Made bed around 3p.m.   Not what I'm hoping for, but not giving up:)

Day 7 

Made bed around 6p.m. Getting worse, but still glad I got the bed made:) 



*My prayer is that by the grace of God I will keep up the good intentions of keeping our room a sanctuary for us.  How about you?  Have you taken a look around your room lately?