Monday Morning Messes and Thoughts on Homemaking

We spent yesterday evening playing instead of cleaning up anything. I slept in late this morning neglecting the fact that I was suppose to be at the YMCA. When I did finally crawl out of bed, I realized what was ahead of me for the day: Dishes, laundry, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning, more dishes, breakfast, lunch, and supper... The list continues, and I wonder sometimes what made me want to choose this lifestyle. I know that it wasn't because of the glamour factor. The reality of life is that we all have to work at something, and I am glad that my work makes for a place that my family enjoys being. The pay isn't lucrative if you are counting dollars, but the rewards in the end are well worth the effort put into the day.

Often times I feel like I am in a rut doing the same thing day in and day out never getting beyond the above list. After all, how much creativity does it take to clean a toilet? However, I know that God made us to be creative people and I get much pleasure creating things for my family and myself to enjoy. I think this is one reason I love to bake breads and desserts. I also love to play in the flowers and bring the beauty of the outdoors into our home. In the midst of the mundane chores of daily living, I try to find the time to create something beautiful. It may be nothing more than taking our cluttered bedroom and putting it back into the beautiful sanctuary that it is designed to be. It may be creating a sitting area on our carport that beckons everybody to gather there as the evening light dims. It may be cutting some fresh flowers from the garden for our kitchen table.

The hard part of being a homemaker is watching everybody undo the work of my hands. Let me explain myself. I spent the whole day putting everything together so we can all enjoy a clean house in the evening. When everyone returns home for the evening, the floor gets tracked. The English Mastiff is excited to see the returning workers so she wags her tail and the dog hair goes flying all over the living room. The carport sanctuary is now full of people laughing and eating and the once beautiful place now has the remnants of 7 people spending the evening there. It has also become home to the frog gigs, fishing poles, and tackle boxes that boys dragged back from the pond. The empty laundry hamper is now full of the dirty clothes of the day. Dishes are now used and sitting by the sink to be washed. Tomorrow will start just as today started. Here is my choice to make: I can choose to enjoy my family or I can choose to resent every chore that comes with having them all together at our home. My family is pretty good about picking up after themselves, but people bring messes. It is a fact of life. Do I want to spend my life alone in a clean house or do I want to share my life with people and deal with the messes that they bring? I know my choice so I am off to make our house a sanctuary that everybody can enjoy being at again this evening including me!

grace and peace,

julie