Making Room for a Beautiful Life

Does anyone ever struggle with clutter at home?

For most of us, the answer is a resounding yes. After Christmas especially, it can feel like our homes are overflowing—decorations, toys, boxes, and “stuff” we’re not quite sure what to do with. There’s joy in the decorations and gifts, but there’s also a surprising sense of relief when everything is packed away and the house feels simple again.
That post-Christmas experience reveals something deeper. Clutter doesn’t just collect in our homes—it can build up in our hearts, our minds, and even our spirits.

If we’re honest, clutter can reach a point where it drains our joy and peace. And while that may start with physical things, it often points to something deeper happening inside us.
Practical Wisdom for Clearing Clutter

Author Cynthia Ewer offers a few practical suggestions for dealing with Christmas clutter:

1. Get one, toss two.
   For every new decoration or gift you receive, get rid of two old ones you no longer use.
2. Sort before you store.
   Don’t just toss everything back into boxes. Take time to let go of what’s worn out, unused, or no longer meaningful.
3. Accept the Holiday Gift Box Challenge.
   Fill boxes with items you no longer need and donate them to others who can use them.

These are helpful steps for our homes—but they also serve as a powerful metaphor for our spiritual lives.

Decluttering the Heart
Clutter is defined as a confused or disordered state—a jumbled mess. That description fits more than just a messy house. Our lives can feel cluttered with distractions, regrets, habits, sins, and burdens we were never meant to carry.
As we step into a new year, here’s a meaningful goal:
Clean out the clutter that keeps us from experiencing a full, rich, abundant life in Jesus Christ.

What habits, thoughts, fears, or patterns do you need to release so you can move forward with Christ?

A Time for Everything
In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon reminds us that there is a time for everything under heaven. Life is filled with seasons—joy and sorrow, growth and loss, holding on and letting go. There is, as Scripture says, a time to keep and a time to throw away.
God is sovereign over every season. Even when life feels messy, He is at work. When we learn to discern the right time—to release what no longer serves us and hold on to what truly matters—God brings beauty from disorder.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Letting Go to Make Room for the New
The apostle Paul echoes this truth in Ephesians, calling believers to put off the old self and put on the new. To walk fully in our new life in Christ, we must let go of what belongs to our former way of living—old sins, lingering anger, regrets, and destructive habits.
Decluttering our spiritual lives is not a one-time event. Like maintaining a home, it requires regular attention. Daily prayer, repentance, Scripture reading, and obedience help keep our hearts aligned with Christ.

As Marie Kondo famously said, “The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.” The same is true spiritually.

Creating Space for Beauty
Decluttering isn’t just about removal—it’s about making space. Space to breathe. Space for healing. Space for joy. Space for God.

Ecclesiastes 3 paints a picture of a beautiful life: planting and uprooting, weeping and laughing, breaking down and building up, mourning and dancing. All of it—every season—can reflect beauty when lived in step with God.
Even in suffering, God is present. Even in grief, He brings healing. Even in laughter and joy, He reminds us of His goodness. There is nothing more beautiful than abiding in Christ and allowing Him to abide in us.

A New Year Invitation
No matter how cluttered your life feels—or how big a mess you think you’ve made—God can make something beautiful out of it. He has made everything beautiful in its time, including you.

As we move into a new year, don’t put off the work of decluttering your heart. Ask yourself:

• What clutter do I need to clean out?
• What burden do I need to leave behind?
• What is the Holy Spirit inviting me to change or become?
• What is the very best I can give to Jesus this year?

In Christ, the old is gone and the new has come. Let’s step forward together, making room for a truly beautiful life in Him.

Scriptures Referenced

• Ecclesiastes 3:1–8
• Ecclesiastes 3:11
• Ephesians 4:22–24
• Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23 (Parable of the Sower)
• Matthew 6:33
• Ephesians 6:10–18
• 2 Corinthians 5:17