Spring Gleaning

It always amazes me how quickly my perspective can change. Okay, so sometimes there’s a distinct reason for it (starts with horm-, ends with –ones). Other times, it seems like two or three small things happen and suddenly everything shifts in a completely topsy-turvy way that just begs for a time-out, a rewind button, or a large bottle of wine…or all three.

That’s been the last couple of weeks here. I don’t know about you, but when things start to feel crazy around here I shift into Assessment and Planning Mode. Yes, I’m completely anal-retentive and obsessive-compulsive about having a plan. You would never know this to see my house. Or my kids. Or me, for that matter.

I’m an excellent planner. And goal-setter. And organizer. Unfortunately, I can also be a dismal follow-through-er. So, in the interest of accountability – because I know at the very least my Dad will read this and probably ask at some point how it’s going – I’ve decided to list some specific areas in which I need to focus my planning (and following through) skills…

• My closet and clothes. I may or may not have mentioned my extreme lack of any fashion sense. Seriously. If Fashion-Challenged was a recognized disability, they could base the DSM-IV criteria on only the clothes I’ve worn in public in the last three days. I don’t do it on purpose. I seriously have no idea how to put a “real” outfit together beyond liking what I see other (more stylish) people wear.

Therefore, it’s time to attack that closet and weed out the items that are hopelessly out of fashion (30%), not going to fit again before becoming hopelessly out of fashion (25%), and set aside items that will hopefully fit again soon and are the plain, never-go-out-of-style sort of items I tend to favor (30%). If you’re doing the math, that should leave me roughly 15% of what’s currently in there. At least I’ll know what I have to work with.

• My kids. I probably should’ve put this first; putting it second makes my priorities seem a little out of whack. However, in my defense, you haven’t actually seen my closet. The kid-planning is simple – I’d like to plan at least two small but purposeful things to do with them each week that we actually do regardless of how busy I am, how cranky they are and which one of them seems to be coming down with something. There is NEVER a day one of those things isn’t a factor and it’s time to get over it.

• My work. Possibly also should’ve appeared before closet, but…oh, well. I have work, which is always a blessing for the self-employed. But, I have some time-budgeting and long-term planning that needs to be done. It’s time to really define the direction I want to take things and refine my plan for getting there.

• My house. Specifically, the lack of decorating in my house. I see such cute ideas online and from friends’ posts/blogs/etc. but I never actually plan to carry any of them out. (Lack of fashion sense also lends itself to lack of decorating style.) The first room to attack will be the living room and its almost-bare walls…and windows…and floors.

There. That gives me some specific places to start. Which brings me to the title of this post. I’ve always liked the word glean. To me, it implies working hard at something to get something fruitful from it. For instance, we can glean knowledge and encouragement from Scripture and glean wisdom from tough experiences.

I hope to glean something from the act of carrying out the items above. Are they small things? Yes. But they’re small things I can do. Sometimes, when you need a plan you can actually act on, that’s all that matters.

I’d love to hear your plan for some Spring Gleaning of your own!