Skip to main content

Messy House, Happy Kids

My husband and I have often talked about being careful about how much we work. While I take the effort to be sure I have lots of time with our kids, I don't take the time to be sure I have enough to time to clean the house. Or, let me put it this way, I make time to cook, for us to eat together, for the kitchen to be cleaned, for the kids to get wrestled with, read to, chased and tickled.

I make time for singing. We make time for parks and family trips.

We have the money for books, trips to the museum, and sometimes snacks.

We DON'T however spend time or money on cleaning our house. My deep down feeling about this is that I do wish it bothered me enough to do something about it. However, at the end of the day, I want to play the kids, talk to my husband, throw the ball for the dog, read a book, crochet a scarf, chat with friends, and have quiet time.

I do not want to fold laundry, mop, scrub the tub, deep clean the refrigerator, or organize the pantry.

I truly admire people who do all of the above.

My husband often reminds me how much his dad worked when he (husband) was a young boy. Often 7 days a week, both at a regular job and then odd jobs to make ends meet. Husband's thoughts on this are that he now realizes how much work that was, but at the time it was just normal.

If my kids grow up thinking wrestling, reading, singing, eating together, laughing, and time with loving parents is normal, even with a messy house, I can learn to be okay with that.

This makes an argument for regular prayers, devotions, church attendance, pondering about God, and statements of faith as well. If you are steeped in it, the language of faith, the stories of the Bible, and testimonies of trust and hope become part of your normal. Those memories last long past clean floors.

Maybe I need to sing songs of faith and mop at the same time, but, first... TICKLE FIGHT!

Comments

Teri said…
this is part of what makes us good BE roommates...a tolerance for a bit of mess in favor of having fun rather than tidying up. :-) I'd much rather remember chatting, and giggling over martinis, and whatever other random things we might come up with, than organizing our closet/bathroom/counter...

Popular posts from this blog

What is Best (Sermon)

Pentecost 15 (Year A)  Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27;  Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 I recently read a novel set in a post-pandemic, apocalyptic world. In the book, people were working to re-establish pockets of society. A traveling symphony moved from town to town in caravans- performing music and works of Shakespeare. Early in their travels, they had tried other plays, but people only wanted to see Shakespearean works. One of the symphony members commented on the desire for Shakespeare, "People want what was best about the world." As I read and since I finished the book, I kept thinking about that phrase.  People want what was best about the world. People want what was best about the world. That is true even when we’re not in a cataclysmic re-working of what we’ve always known. The very idea of nostalgia, of longing for what once was, is about wanting what was best about the world or what seemed like the best to us. One of the massive tension...

The Reign of Christ and the Long Defeat

At one point in The Lord of the Rings, the royal elf Galadriel describes her life and experience and says, “… we have fought the long defeat.” Galadriel, like other elves and the Hobbits and many others, is depicted as being on the right side of things in the books. The Company of the Ring (the Fellowship) wins and defeats the forces of evil. Why would she consider this a “long defeat”?  Furthermore, why would J.R.R. Tolkien, the author, apply the same term to himself. He wrote in a letter, “Actually, I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a 'long defeat’ – though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.” (Letter #195) Tolkien, a Brit, fought in World War 1. Though he was on the side that “won”, he saw the devastation following the war on all sides- how the “winners” struggled with what they had seen and done and how the “losers” were galvanized to see ...

I'm In

A few weeks ago ,  I was using voice-to-text to compose some prayers. After I was finished speaking the whole list, I was proof-reading the document and   realized that everywhere I said “Amen”, the voice-to-text wrote “I’m in”. “Amen” essentially means  “may it be so”,  but what would it look like to end our prayers with “I’m in”. What would change if we rose from our knees, left our prayer closets, closed our devotionals, and moved with purpose toward the goals for which we had just prayed.  Lord, in your mercy:  Grant justice to the oppressed and disenfranchised (I’m in) Cast down the mighty from their thrones (I’m in)  Console the grieving and welcome the prodigal (I’m in)  Welcome strangers and attend to the marginalized (I’m in)  Grant the space for the silenced to speak… and listen (I’m in)  Fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty (I’m in)  Forgive others as I am forgiven (I’m in) Be merciful as God in h...