The Cowgirl and I were driving home from a quick trip to the grocery store. She had spent her own "commission" money and bought treats for herself and her sisters. As she was trying to figure out how she would divvy up said treats, she asked, "Mama, is this fair?" and then proceeded to explain what each girl would get.
I paused a moment, before explaining to her that "fair" would mean she kept all the treats for herself. After all, she had earned that money doing chores. That the word for her behavior was "generous." I then explained that the Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver, because God Himself is a giver.
Then it hit me...
"Fair" would mean God keeps all the good for Himself. He earned it, He created it, He gets to keep it! It would mean Hell for me. It would mean an immediate cessation of life, an immediate descent into an eternity separated from God. If God were truly being "fair," life would be a bleak (and short!) trek.
"Generous" is anything other than that. Even if it isn't what I want. Even if it isn't as much as someone else has. Even if it's "bad" by my perception. God alone deserves all the praise, all the good, all the LIFE. He alone deserves glory, and peace, and love. Yet He generously, graciously, cheerfully gives to us, shares with us. He allows us to live. He allows us to love. And most amazingly, He gives us the opportunity to have a relationship with Him, here and in eternity!
This realization seriously changed how I look at many things. I'm not always mindful of this fact. I still grumble and complain. But I am remembering, more and more. I am becoming more thankful, even as I work through serious disappointments, hurts, and heartaches.
Every time I hear someone complain about unfairness, I hear the elderly ladies of my childhood say. "Life's not fair." And I think -- PRAISE GOD FOR THAT!
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Things I Love: Appliances and Two More
I'm a couple of days behind, but I have a good excuse reason. My dryer blew up on Tuesday morning, which is laundry day around here. With the way I have organized/decluttered the clothing (at least for the girls and me), that has made for an interesting week in our house!
So, first of all, I love modern appliances (when they work). I mean, think about it -- our ancestors beat their dirty laundry out in a creek on a rock, then hung them out to dry. They graduated to washboards and washtubs, then very dangerous washing machines. Now, we have safe, effective machines. We put in dirty clothes, and get back clean clothes. They're wet, but most of the time, a dryer is available. If we don't want the chore of carrying the heavy, wet clothes outside, then bending and hanging them, only to reverse the process when they're dry; we can plop them into a basket, scoot the basket over three feet (or so), and cram those heavy, wet, CLEAN clothes into a dryer, turn in on, then dry them. The same is true for dishes. Just plunk them in the magic box, add soap, press a button, and VIOLA, clean dishes! It's really pretty amazing, if you take the time to think about it. Vacuum cleaners, cars, refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, and so forth! Some require more effort than others, but all the same, they free us up from much of the manual labor that our foremothers did. And to be honest, many women around the world are still doing much of that manual labor. It's an amazing blessing! And yet, all too often, I complain about having to fold that laundry, or unload that dishwasher, or clean out the fridge.
So, my next love for the last three days is understanding (and insanely generous) friends. Two lovely women, when hearing of my misfortune, offered me their dryers. Wow! Both have homes-full of children of their own, with their own laundry to tackle, housework to do, and they offered to let me take up their dryers! I mean, how amazingly generous!
Third, I love parts stores. I called the local appliance parts store on Tuesday afternoon, gave them the model number of my dryer, told them what part I needed (without a part number), and they shipped it out to me. It should be here today. I called the next day, with another broken part, and they had it in stock. The Engineer picked it up yesterday morning. It's entirely possible that this will be a memory by this evening.
OK, so with all this love, how am I going to turn that around and love those around me? I am going to try to be more mindful of things around me. I'm going to try to remember these things are blessings, and that there are those who are (still) doing things "the hard way." After all, that's really the point of this series anyway...
So, first of all, I love modern appliances (when they work). I mean, think about it -- our ancestors beat their dirty laundry out in a creek on a rock, then hung them out to dry. They graduated to washboards and washtubs, then very dangerous washing machines. Now, we have safe, effective machines. We put in dirty clothes, and get back clean clothes. They're wet, but most of the time, a dryer is available. If we don't want the chore of carrying the heavy, wet clothes outside, then bending and hanging them, only to reverse the process when they're dry; we can plop them into a basket, scoot the basket over three feet (or so), and cram those heavy, wet, CLEAN clothes into a dryer, turn in on, then dry them. The same is true for dishes. Just plunk them in the magic box, add soap, press a button, and VIOLA, clean dishes! It's really pretty amazing, if you take the time to think about it. Vacuum cleaners, cars, refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, and so forth! Some require more effort than others, but all the same, they free us up from much of the manual labor that our foremothers did. And to be honest, many women around the world are still doing much of that manual labor. It's an amazing blessing! And yet, all too often, I complain about having to fold that laundry, or unload that dishwasher, or clean out the fridge.
So, my next love for the last three days is understanding (and insanely generous) friends. Two lovely women, when hearing of my misfortune, offered me their dryers. Wow! Both have homes-full of children of their own, with their own laundry to tackle, housework to do, and they offered to let me take up their dryers! I mean, how amazingly generous!
Third, I love parts stores. I called the local appliance parts store on Tuesday afternoon, gave them the model number of my dryer, told them what part I needed (without a part number), and they shipped it out to me. It should be here today. I called the next day, with another broken part, and they had it in stock. The Engineer picked it up yesterday morning. It's entirely possible that this will be a memory by this evening.
OK, so with all this love, how am I going to turn that around and love those around me? I am going to try to be more mindful of things around me. I'm going to try to remember these things are blessings, and that there are those who are (still) doing things "the hard way." After all, that's really the point of this series anyway...
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Loving my Family Means Doing my Chores
I love, love, love having a clean house to live in, clean clothes to wear, and a clean kitchen in which to prepare home-cooked meals. I, however, do not enjoy being the one to clean the house, wash the laundry, and clean the kitchen after I have cooked.
I also do not enjoy the woman I become when our home is messy or cluttered; the laundry is past-due; and the kitchen is crumby, sticky, or just cluttered. I am unloving and unlovely. My stress level rises as my guilt over "not getting it done" rises.
And guilt is a terrible motivator (at least for me). I'd rather let love motivate me into what I need to do.
See, it's loving for me to take the time to make things tidy and neat before the house becomes a natural disaster. It's a loving thing for me to "work ahead" on Friday and Saturday so that Sunday is peaceful (as much as it can be, anyway).
My husband enjoys a clean house, too, especially a crumb-less floor. (He goes barefoot in the house.) My children are more creative when things are neater, when they don't have to shove stuff over in order to create, or just play. And I am far more pleasant to be around when I have taken the initiative to make things clean before they "need" it visibly.
So, today is "clean the house" on my weekly chore list. And I'm going to start right now, before I become an unloving and unlovely wife and mother.
And after it's done, I will be glad I did it. I will work on my attitude about cleaning as I clean. Because I have a terrible case of the "don't-wannas."
Sigh. No one ever said love would be easy all the time.
(Note at the end of this post: The children do, in fact, help with this. However, I must start the process, and there are certain things they are not old enough to clean yet.)
I also do not enjoy the woman I become when our home is messy or cluttered; the laundry is past-due; and the kitchen is crumby, sticky, or just cluttered. I am unloving and unlovely. My stress level rises as my guilt over "not getting it done" rises.
And guilt is a terrible motivator (at least for me). I'd rather let love motivate me into what I need to do.
See, it's loving for me to take the time to make things tidy and neat before the house becomes a natural disaster. It's a loving thing for me to "work ahead" on Friday and Saturday so that Sunday is peaceful (as much as it can be, anyway).
My husband enjoys a clean house, too, especially a crumb-less floor. (He goes barefoot in the house.) My children are more creative when things are neater, when they don't have to shove stuff over in order to create, or just play. And I am far more pleasant to be around when I have taken the initiative to make things clean before they "need" it visibly.
So, today is "clean the house" on my weekly chore list. And I'm going to start right now, before I become an unloving and unlovely wife and mother.
And after it's done, I will be glad I did it. I will work on my attitude about cleaning as I clean. Because I have a terrible case of the "don't-wannas."
Sigh. No one ever said love would be easy all the time.
(Note at the end of this post: The children do, in fact, help with this. However, I must start the process, and there are certain things they are not old enough to clean yet.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)