Thursday, February 6, 2003
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame;
their minds are set on earthly things.
Sondra Felton, a Florida high school teacher, founded M.A. in 1982 because she understood the
pain of people who just couldn't get organized no matter how hard they tried. She suffered from
the same problem. Ms. Felton decided she could no longer live with the mess in her home. She
tried reading books on being neat and systematized at home, but they didn't help because, as
she says, "They were written by organized people."
Ms. Felton put an announcement in the local paper stating that she would hold a meeting for
other messy people who couldn't cope. Eleven women and one man came. A local newspaper
story about that first M.A. meeting received national attention and Ms. Felton soon received
12,000 letters. Ms. Felton responded to all the mail, published a newsletter and hired a
computer consultant.
There are now 18 Messies Anonymous groups around the country with more than 7,000
members. Anyone wanting to start one can contact Ms. Felton for information and support. She
keeps the information simple so as not to overburden the already disorganized person. A
newsletter is available; dues are $10 per year.
Do you know any likely candidates for Messies Anonymous? St. Paul is not writing about people
who keep messy houses, but people who keep messy lives. Their lives are messy because
they've never made a basic choice about whom they will worship. St. Paul writes of those whose
"god is their belly." Now, he's not talking about those of us who may be a little overweight. He's
talking about people who live only for today and its pleasures with no thought of eternity. He's
talking about the cult of instant gratification--whether it be food, or sex or drink or raw
materialism. He's talking about persons whose eyes are on short term profits rather than long
term investments. In short, he's writing about people not very different from you and me.
It's true, isn't it? Many of us are part of that number who have settled for the easy road, the broad
gate. Our call is to head toward the narrow one that leads to our heavenly Father.
(Philippians 3.19
NRSV)
Mary couldn't get her leaky faucet fixed because she was ashamed to let a plumber see the
inside of her cluttered home. Jane was pregnant and didn't know where she would put her new
baby because she had so much "stuff" piled in every room of her apartment. Lorene's house
was so messy she couldn't bring her terminally ill husband home from the hospital to die. These
people (whose names have been changed to protect the sloppy) and thousands more have
been aided by a self-help group appropriately named Messies Anonymous. (M.A.)
Dear God, forgive me for taking the easy road, as you move me toward your narrow path. Amen.
