Do we keep things how they should be or are we just lazy?

A couple weeks ago I was down in the metro Phoenix, Arizona area for a conference at ASU West.  Later that day I went to Mesa Community College with my sister to see an exhibit of Abraham Lincoln that they had at the library.  After that, we decided to walk around MCC to see all the changes that had taken place.  The place has many new buildings and other ones are under construction.  It is becoming a more up-to-date campus.

While on our self-tour, we ended up at the Social Sciences Building.  This is the building that is on the southside of the campus (not far from the Superstition Freeway; US 60).  It is also close to Dobson Road.  That building was the newest of buildings when I started there in 1989.  Not anymore.

Well, you will not believe this, but there is an old newspaper stand of the New York Times at Mesa Community College on the outside of the southwest part of the Social Sciences Bldg. It needs to be taken away. It is old and dusty. It is an eyesore. The bundle of newspapers there says July 2003. Why is it still there?  That’s 6 years ago. Why haven’t they taken it away? It is clutter and in the way.

It is pretty ironic that these old newspapers are still there in a stand that is not used.   The stand is even locked.  MCC has all of these new buildings, but they probbaly haven’t noticed that there are old newspapers sitting and collecting dust.

What can be the learning experience here for all of us?  Remember that everything and every day is an opportunity to learn and become better.

We ourselves need to see what we need to clear out that is in the way.  Clutter and too many things can add up.  We may have 6 year old newspapers that are in the way, but most likely, there are other items that need to be removed (trashed, given to the D.I., or sold).

The following from President Spencer W. Kimball (12^th president of the church from 1973 to 1985) comes from the book The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball:

President Kimball said:  “The Lord…created for us this beautiful world and gave command to Father Adam to till the ground and to dress the land and to make it habitable.  That command continues to us.

…We are concerned when we see numerous front and side and back yards that have gone to weeds, where ditch banks are cluttered and trash and refuse accumulate.  It grieves usus when we see broken fences, falling barns, leaning and unpainted sheds, hanging gates, and unpainted property.  And we ask our people again to take stock of their dwellings and properties.

“There is a story that President Brigham Young, having urged the people of certain communities to properly dress and clean their premises, refused to go back to them to preach to them, saying something like this: “You didn’t listen to me when I urged you to fix up your premises.  The same doors are off their hinges; the same barns are still unpainted; the same fences are partly fallen.” (from “Small Acts of Service,” MIA June Conference (6/21/1974); Ensign December 1974.

At the October 1974 General Conference of the church, President Kimball said, “We look forward to the day when, in all our communities, urban and rural, there would be a universal, continued movement to clean and repair and paint barns and sheds, build sidewalks, clean ditch banks, and make our properties a thing of beauty to behold.” –God Will Not Be Mocked,” General Conference; Nov. 1974 Ensign

It has been 35 years since President Kimball taught the members of the church to clean up their properties.  In essence, he was teaching that we need to clean up our lives and fix what needs to be fixed.  I do not believe we have completed what President Kimball taught.  We can do better.  This includes myself.

The task is to stay on top of things so that they do not go out of control.  There is a television series called “Clean House”.  You can probably guess what it is about.  If they need to have a TV show about something, it may be a problem here in the United States.

The Clean House crew goes in to a person’s house in order to help them control household control as they have not been able to do it on their own.  That must be so embarrasing going on national televisin and telling American you have a problem with cleaning and clutter.  The people that are on the show may have psychological barriers that are preventing them from letting go of things.  Wow!

These people’s homes are at times so messy that the crew can barely walk through the home.  The clean and have a yard sale.  The yard sale money is used to design the rooms.  Some of the guests from the show have been hanging onto things for decades and not using it.  Guests at times do not know what they even have in their homes because they have too much. Sometimes family and friends call the show saying that their friend/ family member needs help in their home.  That there must be humiliation.

The Clean House program is the extreme of it all.  I do not believe we all are that bad, but we all have something to clean and organize either inside our home, in our yards, or our garage.  I sometimes wonder, what would the president of the church think if he came to my place?

I need to go and clean and organize.

Well, that is how I see it—the world according to Wild Bill Stebbing.  Until next time.  Have a great day.  You can contact me at bill@millennialstar.org