Making Room for God

I love how the author intertwined decluttering our home life and surrounding with decluttering our spiritual connection. She carried this thread throughout and I really connected with both of these subjects. Although I feel I have a pretty good handle on keeping my home organized and holding myself accountable for periodic decluttering, I definitely can benefit from focusing on connecting with God more often and keeping the distractions of daily life from invading that relationship. 
I thought that the author’s tone was very down to earth (what I most enjoy) and that she was including herself in the all-to-familiar struggle with structuring her environment and spiritual life, so I feel like she was very relatable. 
Just at the point where I thought, “Okay, you live alone with a dog. What about us who have kids destroying our progress every second of the day?” She addressed this issue with practical ways to involve the little progress-destroyers in the clean-up!

I really liked that this book takes a thoroughly Catholic approach to the idea of decluttering. So many books on this subject seem to give you the impression that putting things away, putting together a system, or accepting their vision will turn your life perfect, Happily this book accepts our flawed nature and puts decluttering within the context of creating a good Christian life.

In doing so it added a dimension that I always found missing in organization books. 

I also liked that Sperry was so up front about her own struggles with buying and clutter control. I also liked that she was realistic about the way we'll fail in the process and that she took time to show us how decluttering, while helpful, is not a perfect analogy for our spiritual growth.

In spite of all this goodness, I thought it fell flat in one area. She takes a chapter to broaden her arguments and relates them to Pope Francis' controversial environmental encyclical and to many politically correct and possibly dubious social justice concerns. I would have liked to see this section either shortened or to be more thoughtful instead of reflecting the party line.

Even so the book was great and I have already started my decluttering process.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote: 'There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.'  These are extremely wise words for pack rats, and Mary Elizabeth Sperry's book will not only help you to declutter. It will also help you to desire less. 

Some early Church Fathers, such as Saint Anthony, escaped from the Roman Empire, to live ascetic lives and become closer to God.  They owned nothing and ate very little. This was partly because they wanted to separate themselves from attachment to material possessions so that they could become closer to God.  As Sperry writes, they were the true forerunners of today's minimalists.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin as 'failure in genuine love for God and neighbour caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods'. (CCC, 1849) (Buddhism states that misery is caused by attachment). Possessions can separate us from God and from other people. Sperry explains how and why this is so, and combines the spiritual advantages and reasons for decluttering and gives practical tips in this well-written book. She writes about spiritual discipline, gratitude and generosity as well as how sins, such as envy, can lead to accumulating more 'stuff'. There are exercises at the end of each chapter to help.

I also found Sperry's struggles with her own clutter similar to mine, and rather endearing. For example, she sometimes has to look through several cabinets and drawers to find a utensil. She also almost lost a job opportunity because the offer got mixed up with the spam! It was good to read this, and know that I am not alone!

This is highly recommended for Catholics, or indeed, any Christians who feel that they need a more spiritual approach to getting rid of clutter.

I absolutely love how the author breaks down tackling the task of decluttering into small steps. It is perfect for someone like me who gets easily overwhelmed when there’s a mountain of things to accomplish. The best part, however, is that Sperry’s model is shaped after the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. There's no better way to blend cleaning and faith. This is one of the best books about decluttering/cleaning that I have ever come across!

What I loved most about this aptly titled book is that Mary Sperry claims not only a moral dimension to our relationship with our possessions (and their proliferation), but she also convincingly describes a spiritual dimension of the same.
This is not to say that “Making Room for God” isn’t filled with practical guidance for reducing the clutter in our lives, because it is. But there are a million other resources — some helpful, some less so — for those just looking for help tackling their clutter. This book goes beyond the usual dose of pop psychology or branded formulas for “success.”
Sperry’s book is helped enormously by the unguarded descriptions of her own experiences relevant to each topic. These anecdotes feel completely unforced and organic, and help the reader make connections to our own situation. This works not only for the nuts and bolts of the decluttering tasks, but also in illuminating the profoundly Catholic spirituality that informs Sperry’s understanding of how our relationship to possessions lays bare the deeper dimensions of hospitality, generosity, stewardship of creation, and the like. But her best work explores how clutter and unexamined acquisition of things are related to personal and communal notions of sin. It’s challenging stuff, but worth the uncomfortable self-reflection she proposes.
Sperry seems to be laying at least the groundwork for a sort of domestic theology informed by Catholic faith, and this is very much in line with the latest apostolic exhortation, GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE, which invites believers to holiness in every sphere of life. I sincerely hope she has more books in the works on related topics!
I highly recommend this book, not only for those wanting to tackle clutter, but for anyone who is looking to make room for God in a consumer-driven society.

A helpful read for those of us who struggle with clutter and inadequate time. I would definitely recommend to friends and family!