MAKE ROOM FOR GOD
Clearing Out the Clutter
by Susan K. Rowland
St. Anthony Messenger, 2007
160 pages, $10.95
To order: 1-800-488-0488
Catalog.americancatholic.org

According to Susan Rowland, the purpose of de-cluttering and organizing is not to enable us to accomplish more and have more. The purpose is to enable us to “become who God wants us to be, not do what God ‘wants’ us to do.”

And while secular organizing books acquiesce to the culture of having more and doing more — just more efficiently and stored more attractively — Rowland refutes this attitude by challenging her readers to question what our American culture expects of people, confronting head-on our culture’s attitudes and conventions:

“I believe our Western (American) culture keeps us from developing spiritually and becoming the people God created us to be,” Rowland writes. “Our particular culture seems to worship the god of productivity. It is isolationist and consumerist … [with] a whole set of cultural tenets: Good people get a lot done. God expects us to work hard in this life.... These beliefs are actually part of our cultural religion."

Rowland encourages readers to begin their de-cluttering by focusing on who we are in Christ and finding self-worth in that identity, rather than in what we do, what we own, and what we are able to accomplish. Only then does she turn our attention to the symptoms of external excess: endless to-do lists, an unmanageable schedule, and all the other aspects of modern life that drive us crazy.

The exercises in the book are few but easy. My children and I played “The Evacuation Game,” in which you stage a mock evacuation to another planet where all your basic needs will be met, and you are allowed to take anything else you want with you. But you get only three minutes to go through your house to choose. “What would your home look like,” Rowland asks, “if it were only furnished with the essentials... plus the things you ‘saved’ during the game?”

The last section of the book focuses on our inner life with God — interior and emotional de-cluttering — which includes letting go of worry, forgiving others, and keeping the Sabbath.

The purpose of this exterior and interior de-cluttering is to make room for the truly important things in life, particularly connecting to God and others through prayer, community and creative expression.

Some readers might be put off by Rowland’s studied avoidance of the male pronoun when referring to God. But this book really takes a different angle on personal organization and is right on the mark.

But bookstore shelves are already lined (dare I say cluttered?) with heavy, how-to organizing books. Rowland’s book provides a much-needed difference: more of a softer, “why-to” organizing book written for the person of faith who wants to step off the merry-go-round of possessing and doing and into a more peaceful, God-centered and rewarding way of life.

Clare Siobhan writes from

Westmont, Illinois.