'Spring cleaning'

Whether our day is mainly spent in the home world with family and friends, or in the business world with associates and customers, order is needed for greater accomplishment and a heart at peace.

We may have read books or taken courses relating to home or business management, and utilized some of the suggestions. But perhaps we still feel a need for order at a deeper level. Deeper harmony and peace are a result of learning more about God and living that understanding each day.

The Bible teaches us of our relationship to God, Spirit, and that an understanding of this relationship is practical. Consider the verse from Psalms, ''Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.'' n1 This prayer is built on the truth that God has authority in our lives, and power over evil. It is built on the truth that God not only creates man but governs him. Turning to God in humble prayer - such as the Psalmist's words express - is the beginning of order, for it is basing one's life on God.

n1 Psalms 119:133.

But what about the individual who prays, and still feels his experience is somehow out of God's control? Scientific prayer is always effective. And its fruits are far more than human hopes fulfilled. Its fruits are divine. Prayer may first have the effect of purging one's heart of the beliefs and attitudes that are not in accord with God's government.

For example, when living with children, it is too easy to slip into the attitude, ''If only they did things my way, there would be greater harmony and order in the home.'' While children should certainly learn and practice obedience, parents need to guard against the subtle belief in two goods - one for themselves and one for the children - which are somehow competing.

God commands each of us, ''Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'' n2 And in truth, all do have one God, one infinite source of good, one Father-Mother. As the mother begins to pray with this understanding, she is open to see His will expressed, both by herself and by her children.

n2 Exodus 20:3.

Increased humility - willingness to be corrected and changed by God - shows a deeper trust in His goodness. As we draw into accord with His will, God orders our steps, and we gain increasing dominion over iniquity.

For many years mine was a life of disorder. There were signs of sloppiness in dress, in getting to work on time, in my home. Procrastination and self-justification did little to correct the situation.

Feeling a lack of order, I took a mini-course on home management. As helpful as this was, it didn't touch my real need.

Now I was ready for a permanent solution; I turned to God. This humility was the beginning of order. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, ''To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is.'' n3

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 275.

Here was my answer! I needed more than clean closets; I needed a clean heart, one that really listened to God, that acknowledged Him as the sole creator and governor of man. I needed to look above the dirt and clutter of earthbound, materialistic thinking and reasoning to the spiritual truth of my being. I needed to begin with the truth that God created me (and all) spiritual and complete.

With this realization came a second one: The laziness and willfulness of ''I'll do what I want to when I want to'' were really sinfulness. They turned away from God, the divine Principle of creation, thus bringing the fruits of disorder. Once I realized this, once this type of disobedient thinking was uncovered, I knew I could pray to God and begin doing right.

I felt God's forgiveness and realized that the love and gratitude which came to my heart had to be expressed in daily living. Now it became a joy to be neat, to clean the house, to iron and mend. The sloppiness in my personal life was not swept under the rug or hidden under a bed. It was completely healed!

Order and peace come to us from God. They come in the degree that we look to Him as our source, as the creator of all. DAILY BIBLE VERSE I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalms 40:8