Sparking JOY in 2016! Two Books About Tidying Up

My Grandma always said, "A place for everything.  Everything in its place."  But how do you get there???

If you want to tackle household clutter and dis-organization for 2016, I have the book for you!  Two, actually...

My husband and I have really enjoyed reading Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  (Yes, you read that right - my husband is reading it too! We want to do some re-modeling soon, and our house and garage are in need of major de-cluttering.  We need help, and this book has given us the courage to start.)

Chapter I: Why Can't I Keep My House in Order?
The "KonMarie Method" doesn't involve the latest innovations or short-cuts to cleaning; it's about getting rid of "stuff" and recognizing what things are truly useful, meaningful, and worthy of holding on to - because let's face it, having fewer things to clean makes life and it's quotidian chores a lot easier!

Illustration by Eloise Wilkin, from We Help Mommy

Marie Kondo is doing something right: more than 3 million copies of her "Life Changing Magic" book, translated into 35 languages, have sold worldwide!

Her first book was a helpful introduction to her tidying up philosophy: only keeping things that "spark joy", and putting them where they belong. 

But for those of us who are not natural organization gurus like Miss Kondo, it lacked some further helpful details...we needed diagrams of that shirt folding (her shirts stand up by themselves when folded, no kidding!), and pictures of what organized drawers and shelves should look like.

Not to worry! Now Marie Kondo has a new book: Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up.

In her new book, Kondo expounds on her six rules of tidying:
1. Commit yourself to tidying up.
2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle.
3. Finish discarding first.
4. Tidy by category, not by location.
5. Follow the right order.
6. Ask yourself if it sparks joy.

I can guarantee, if you follow her principals, you'll find yourself being able to "Whistle while you work!" because you'll be surrounded by things that give you joy.

If like me, following Epiphany, you have an annual house blessing for the new year, this book couldn't have been published at a better time!

The only recommendation from her books that I take issue with is her section for going through (getting rid of - gasp) books.  Most of my books are worthwhile, or I wouldn't have bought them.  

My home library is one area that I'm not going to pair down too much. Even if I'm unable to re-read every single one of my books, can one have too many?  After all, shelves and shelves of them make even the grandest of homes feel cozy!

What Can You Tell Your Children About Theophany?

The Blessing of the Waters is a beautiful service that takes place in the Orthodox Church for Epiphany (also called Theophany).  Today our priest sent around a beautiful sermon by Father Mark Sietsema that began with the question,

“What do you mean by this service?”

Fr. Mark's expounds:
This was the question that little Israelite children were taught to ask at the Passover seder ritual (Exodus 12:26). This same question we too should ask in the month of January as we celebrate the Baptism of Christ. Through the liturgies of Epiphany and the blessings of homes, we also re-celebrate our own Baptisms, which are simply reenactments of His Baptism. 
(You can read the sermon in its entirety here.)

Archbishop Anastasios, Blessing the Waters [source orthodoxalbania.org]

Father Mark says that to comprehend the deeper meaning of the feast of Epiphany, we must look to the book of Genesis - and particularly the story of Creation, Adam and Eve, and The Flood in the time of Noah.

As Father goes on to explain, these Genesis stories will help us better understand Christ's own baptism because...

source

What we see on Epiphany, then, is a re-staging of the Creation: the Spirit hovering like a mother bird, in the form of a dove; the approval of the Father thundering from the open heavens; and out of the dark waters emerges the new creation—but this time God starts from the end and works backward! The first creature to emerge from the waters is a man—Jesus Christ. And so it begins—the healing of our nature, the re-harmonization of all creatures, the reconciliation of all living things to God. In time the New Creation will embrace the whole Universe...“For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His Cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

Genesis Stories for Children
So, on to my book recommendations for today - gorgeous offerings from gifted artist, Jane Ray.

All her biblical stories are descriptive, adapted from Scripture (King James version), with vivid folk-art-inspired illustrations. I'm happy to say that all are available used, from Amazon!

This stunning volume, Let There Be Light, newer edition is The Orchard Book of Bible Stories) might be your best choice! It is a collection of the re-tellings of The Story of Christmas, The Story of Creation, and Noah's Ark.

To see all my posts and book recommendations for Theophany and Epiphany, go here.

Eleventh Day and Twelfth Night

Tomorrow - January 6th - in my Church, we will celebrate the Baptism of Christ, or "Theophany", as well as the "Great Blessing of the Waters". The celebration of this Feast of our Lord begins on January 5, a day known as the "Forefeast of Theophany". Depending on the day of the week, this could be an evening service with Vespers followed by the Liturgy of Saint Basil or a morning service with Matins and the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom (as it will be tomorrow, since Epiphany falls on a Sunday this year).

The Blessing of the Waters is conducted in the church; however in many places throughout the world services are conducted near open bodies of water. As a sign of blessing as Christ blessed the Jordan, holy water is poured into the body of water. An associated tradition has been the tossing of a cross into the water to be retrieved by divers.

source

During the Orthodox service for the feastday of Theophany (or Epiphany), the priest makes the Sign of the Cross over the water with his hand and prays specifically for God's blessing to be invoked upon it. At the climax of the service, he immerses the hand cross into the water three times in imitation of Christ's baptism to the singing of the festal troparion:

source

When Thou wast baptized in the Jordan, O Lord,
The worship of the Trinity was made manifest.
For the voice of the Father bore witness to Thee,
And called Thee His beloved Son.
And the Spirit, in the form of a dove,
Confirmed the truthfulness of His word.
O Christ God, Who hast revealed Thyself,
And hast enlightened the world, glory be to Thee!


The holy water from the church is given to the faithful to consume and to use in blessing their homes. In the weeks following the Feast, clergy visit the homes of parishioners and conduct a service of blessing using the holy water that was blessed on the Feast of Theophany.

Two beautiful books for Theophany:

A House Blessing by Welleran Poltarnees. This is a beautiful book, with each page highlighing, in famous artwork, a phrase of a blessing prayer. Welleran Poltarnees is the pen name of Harold Darling, an author who has written numerous "blessing books" that employ turn of the 19th to 20th century artwork. This pen name is based on two of Lord Dunsany's most famous stories: "The Sword of Welleran" and "Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean".

...All who live and visit here shall be friends. 

Kindliness and harmony shall be the watchwords.

Let the mealtimes be far more than the fulfillment of a necessity.

In this home food shall be prepared with grace, and eaten with gratitude.

May this be a place where the laughter of babies is heard,

and the gravity of children is answered with loving respect.

Make this house warm in the winter, and by the fires of an open hearth let comradeship and imagination flower. 

Let this be the place of peace, offering refuge from chaos and doubt, and manifesting in its orderliness, a model for the larger world...

THE THEOPHANY OF OUR LORD by Sister Elayne (now Mother Melania), with illustrations by Bonnie Gillis.  Beautiful watercolor illustrations accompany the beautiful poetic text about the Orthodox Church's celebration of Christ's baptism.

For more about Theophany, go here, to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Website, my source for this post.