My relationship with work is complicated. I don’t just work and worship. I tend to grab the glory for myself when I accomplish work and I tend to work by will power and self-sufficiency than humble dependence on God.
Just yesterday, I felt proud with all that I got done in the day. Pride sucks out the humility and my arrogance kills worship. Good thing God is patient to redeem my heart in this area!
What about you? Are you competent in your work? At the end of the day, are you pleased with your accomplishments? Does your “plate” seem manageable? Are you satisfied even if you didn’t get your work done? Are you proud if you accomplish or grumble if you don’t?
Arrogance can sneak in with our completed tasks. As the boxes are checked, pride can carry us to the next action item. The ambitious heart seeks the next challenge and self-sufficiency is commonly the energy that drives our achievements. Self-confidence and self-sufficiency is often what motivates, not worship and dependence on God.
2 Corinthians 3:4-5
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
What does Godly confidence look like, then?
I can stand in confidence in God’s grace that I am a woman that Jesus loves. Jesus gives me all that I need as I depend on Him to complete (or not complete) my work each day. I can worship with confidence and competence, believing that I am not my work. My task list does not define me.
If I believe that the Holy Spirit is what drives me throughout my day, then I can stand confident even when there are incomplete tasks. My competence and confidence are not contingent on my accomplishments. My confidence is in Jesus and the work HE does, not my work. Jesus’ work on the Cross is what identifies me. He has made me competent to be a minister of the Gospel of Grace. Sometimes that means competence in completed tasks, other days competent in incomplete tasks, all the while needing Him to define my days for me.
God defines me, not my work. Grace feels wonderful.
What “season” are you in?
As a young girl, I wanted to be an adult. When I was single I wanted to be married. When my kids were babies, I wanted them to be preschoolers… As each season changed, my ambitious heart would often covet the next season. Even in my current season, I am tempted to grumble in it, and look forward to a future time in the life of our family.
Each season that I am given is an opportunity for worship. Yet, deep under the sporatic complaints and restless discontentment for my season, lies a dissatisfied heart with what God has given me.
As God calls me to my season, He is calling me to steward His grace in it.
1 Peter 4: 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards, of God’s varied grace.
Ephesians 3:2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you.
Stewardship of God’s grace is more expansive than the stewardship of money. Christians have experienced miraculous grace and are called to be the agent of grace in many ways. We are called to manage God’s stuff (which is everything) and furthermore represent His grace.
Paul (the author of the above verses) was called and equipped by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit which was a season that lasted from conversion until his death. God calls all of us to a particular season and the purpose of it is worship.
My calling shapes my season today. Serving Jesus by serving my family is my daily stewardship of God’s grace. My season is packed with overwhelming dependence on the Holy Spirit to keep my family and home running. More than checking things off a list, I am called to steward the love and grace of God.
Managing God’s grace in my season calls me to humble service without grumbling. Being led moment by moment by God replaces going through the motions of my day. As God lovingly directs my work; I am more gracious and flexible with my duties. As four children experience their mother, they are seeing glimpses of God’s grace for them. The gift and weight of this calling is intense and beautiful. And it is His grace that allows me to extend it to others. I am truly grateful that I am in this season. I long to steward it with repentance and continual and contagious worship.
What is your season? How can you more faithfully steward God’s grace in it?
1. What’s the most common mistake people make in trying to develop a system for productivity?
There are a lot of wrong turns that people make here, but I think the biggest one is that they simply seek to make their system capture and organize their existing work. We shouldn’t first ask “what things are vying for my attention and how do I organize them?” Instead, we should first ask “what things are most important for me to be doing and how do I make sure that I am able to move ahead on them?” The former is reactive and the later is proactive.
2. In the last three months, what has been the most helpful insight that has helped you be more productive?
Peter Drucker’s comment that “effective executives put first things first and do one thing at a time.” My workload has been larger than normal the last few months, and that makes it tempting to splinter myself and move on too many fronts at once. Drucker reminds me to avoid this trap. First, you don’t have to do everything. Instead, identify what is most important, and start there. Second, build momentum by doing one thing at a time, bringing it to completion, and then moving on to the next thing (what’s best next). You might think this makes it take longer to do things, but it actually saves time. The scarcity of time is precisely the reason we need to do one thing at a time.
3. In a nutshell, what is the most important and fundamental principle for being productive?
I would actually say: realize that you don’t have to be productive. By this I mean: your significance does not come from your productivity. It comes from Christ, who obeyed God perfectly on our behalf such that our significance and standing before God comes from him, not anything we do. Then, on that basis, we pursue good works (which is what productivity is) and do so eagerly, as it says in Titus 2:14.
When it comes to day-to-day application, the main principle is this: The key denominator of effectiveness is not intelligence or even hard work, as important as those are. It is the discipline to put first things first. You need to operate from a center of sound principles and organize and execute around priorities. This means that instead of prioritizing your schedule, you schedule your priorities.
Proverbs 31:13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. 15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. 16 She considers a field and buys itl with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
The NIV says eager and the ESV translation of the Bible says willing. Two awesome words to say a woman that is ready to work!
When I walk in to a room that had previously been clean, organized, and presentable, instead I find couch cushions out on the floor, toy bins dumped, thrown, books pulled off shelves, and the floor is covered with various debris of a 30 minute chunk of time, I thought would be bliss? I think to myself, “YOU are kidding me!!! This will take forever to put back together.” My redeemed heart COULD say, “Looks like these kids had fun while I was upstairs making lunch, maybe we can make a fun game of cleaning this up together.” My heart would be stilled. My heart COULD be eager to clean up after my children instead of aggrevation, masked with a happy face, trying not to dishonor my kids and make them feel like a burden.
6am, the alarm goes off. I have an hour before my kids wake up and greet my husband and I for the day. Some mornings, I am eager to get to work, to work out, get some time alone in the Bible and pray that my heart would be patient and that I would be self-controlled that day. Most mornings, my heart groans, “could it possibily be 6, already?” Am I eager, willing, and ready to get up and serve my Lord?
The sluggard stays in bed long past time to rise for work. Proverbs is full of verses rebuking the lazy sluggard, who is the opposite of our eager and willing worker. Here are a few looks at how God describes this reluctant worker.
Proverbs 6:9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
Proverbs 20: 4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
Proverbs 26:14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
Where is Jesus in the midst of the messy play room or alarm clock going off? In my flesh, I don’t see him, I don’t acknowledge the Holy Spirit tapping on my wandering heart. The truth is, those moments are precious opportunities for me to obey. To obey and worship Jesus, to be still, to know that a messy room doesn’t mean I am messy. My messes are not who I am. Even in the midst of chaos and endless task lists, my heart can be calm. My desire is that my heart would be continually Controlled by the Spirit.
Eager. Eager and Willing are the opposite of Lazy and Disobedient. Are you the Eager Servant or Reluctant Sluggard? What motivates you to do either? AGAIN, we are to see that the Fear of the Lord could be our motivation. Fear of man, can superficially motivate me sometimes to get things in order, yet my heart isn’t intrenched in the satisfaction of serving my family, which is serving the Lord.
When I am tempted to not work with eager and willing hands, is my heart sensitive to the Lord? When I say, “ugg, more work, could it really be this much, Lord?,” am I quick to rely on God for strength? Do I pray a dependent on Jesus prayer, “Lord, please make me quick to serve and eager to put others first!”
Do you ever find your self tempted by laziness, a sluggard mentality? Do you struggle to get organized? Do you change your behavior for a while and eventually find that you are right back where you started? I am praying that you, that I, can continue to gaze on Christ and that He would show us where repentance needs to happen. Perhaps, it is selfishness, love of pleasure, lack of self-control, lack of time-management, i.e., stewardship, etc.
Sluggards can repent. And the proud productive worker can repent. The willing servant can repent of feeling like you have arrived. There is no proverbs 31 woman. There is only Jesus. He is the goal, the precious treasure! He is the reason why I can get out of my bed at 6am.
Working with willing and eager hands isn’t the end, it is a means to worship. And it is worship when you surrender your desires and your desires change and become a willing heart enjoying Jesus, and EVERY part of His lavish grace on you.
So, my friend, are you worshipping? Where is your struggle? What side of the fence are you on? Or are you straddling?
Spring fever: A feeling of restlessness, excitement, or laziness brought on by spring.
We have been here 9 years last month and have certainly gotten acclimated to the climate, the dreary days, and have become what we mocked when we first arrived. When we first got here, we snickered in disbelief for the pacific northwestern behavior when the sun peaks out. The tank tops and flip flops appear at the hint of 65 degrees and sunny. Now, I am one of my fellow city dwellers with no shame. WE love the weather and really don’t mind the dreary days or drizzly rain.
As Spring has arrived in its fickle, teasing, rebellion against consistency, the warmth appearing then leaving. I am antsy. It isn’t about the weather as much. This isn’t a weather talk. The weather more REPRESENTS the wave of inconsistency in my heart. The weather is like a mirror to see how I respond to circumstances.
As the darker days become more lit with the promise of the sun and flowers start their beautiful blooms and people eagerly garden and lay on the grass, my heart is anticipating. My heart races at the plans of all that I want to do in these next short 5 months!
Spring Fever is a cue for me to see how fickle my heart is. I am as inconsistent in my worship as Seattle is with sunny days. I am so quick to put my hope in all MY plans, not God’s. The calendar and lists thrive in the spring. The productivity meter goes way up. My heart is eager to grow things, teach things, filter, organize, and make changes.
Spring Fever pokes at my restless desires, thinking that by accomplishing anything, peace is the reward.
God is my reward. Spring time fun, projects, and thoughts can be purposeful in my heart to connect to Jesus. He is to be worshipped when I dig in the dirt, worshipped in the mundane raking of constant pine needles in our lawn. He is to be praised in the planting of vegetables and acknowledged for His miraculous creation. Whatever my hand finds to do, whatever my heart craves this spring, I am admiring God.
Spring Fever is ok, I think if it draws my desires in to Jesus’ desires. Passion Redeemed. Restlessness stilled. And Work becomes Worship.
What is all the fuss with spring cleaning? Shouldn’t we always be cleaning regardless of the season? I think it is a common feeling to be motivated by changing seasons to change things in our environment. When the trees start budding leaves and the air gets scents of bloom, spring fever hits me! Then, I am ready to buy vegetable seeds and excited to make lists of projects for outside and inside the home.
As Spring approaches, it is an excellent time to think about what areas of our homes need extra attention. What projects have been put off or need attention? A few questions come to mind as I ponder this topic:
What projects can I give an hour a day to that would help my home and family run more smoothly?
What spring and summer memories or events are typical for my family and what steps can I take to plan those?
What areas outside or inside my home are being avoided because it is too overwhelming to clean, organize, or decorate?
Spring Cleaning is just a name that our society has come up with for a temporary motivation to organize with an extra measure of social pressure. It is really nothing more than surveying the home or workplace and taking inventory.
Inventory by room by room. Each room should be maintained daily, weekly, and monthly. Clutter, clean, and deeper clean. Spring cleaning can be an extra time to re-decorate, put an organizational system in place, or re-arrange for a more effienent space.
Spring Cleaning Inventory (the List)
organize the list by room
scan the room: what do you not like in the room?
assign your name or someone else’s name to each task
write down items to purchase
what needs to be thrown out, given away, sold, etc.
what doesn’t work about the space? brainstorm solutions
budget any changes and talk thru it with your spouse, get ideas, look thru magazines for ideas, get help, share resources
plan time to give to the tasks/projects
enlist kids and or family members to have fun with the project
After each room gets this inventory, priortize the rooms in order for your time and attention. Look at your life schedule and set aside a reasonable amount of time for these extra jobs. They are in addition to our daily stewardship of our home. Spring projects are great opportunities for communities/groups to take turns helping each other with as well. I have heard of groups in our church, once a month serving a family in the group on a Saturday with Spring outside projects. What a great way to serve and be served.
I love Spring. I am reminded as the green stuff starts appearing of the newness of life and the character of God. It is so amazing that God created seasons, months, weeks, and days. I find that with each new day I feel a fresh start, new motivation to love God and others more.
As I start my list for Spring Work, I am intensely motivated to worship God in the ”before and afters” of projects!
When do you work and when do you engage with those around you? Do you struggle with resentment when trying to be productive and a relationship presents itself? When do you choose to play or relax when you should orneed to accomplish something? Are you more lazy or are you too busy with work? These questions should poke at you! If you have been reading this past year at all, you know that I am more likely to work than play.
For me, I am more likely to obsess over a clean and orderly home than chill out and take a break from work. Repentance isn’t always the opposite of my behavior, however. Tasks can easily become more important to me than people. Change doesn’t mean that I abandon tasks and instead sabbath all day, everyday. Change is having a soft heart (awareness of God directing my actions and emotions) and know each day, each action, what is the better thing. Change is slow for me, and over time I am beginning to see my work not just tasks, but also relationships. Worshipping Christ in my work is also recognizing the people around me in my life as I work!
Here are some examples of straightforward tasks:
Cleaning
Cooking
Errands
Budgeting
Shopping
Email: calendaring, projects
Here are some examples of relationship moments:
Time with God, reading, journaling, praying
Dates with the kids
Playing with them: toys, sports, boardgames
Dates at home or away (full atttention) with spouse
Emails that communicate encouragement or affection
Out with a friend
Phone call
Serving someone in need of mercy
Urgent prayer in person or on the phone
When do tasks merge into relationships? Can relationships become tasks? Is it OK for me to “accomplish” or be “productive” with a relationship? Can I put relationship time on my “list?” Is it cold to think of a person as a task? Can I do work items with my husband or child and “kill two birds with one stone?” I have done this a lot while talking on the phone while the kids are napping. I will clean like a mad woman while catching up with a friend. Multi-tasking is great! Yet, I miss it if I am more interesting in the task than the person present with me.
Hmm. I think as long as I step forward in repentance to worship God in my work, this is one layer to the journey! As I continue to grow in humility, by God’s grace, I am finding that there is NO FORMULA! Shoot! Humility and maturity for me right now is growing moment by moment, being led by God, letting go of control, and moment by moment discerning like Mary (in Luke Chapter 10) what the Greater Portion is.
For your own pondering and conversing:
In your daily routine, what gets the most attention?
What thing that you can’t get to during your day, triggers anger?
Do you give some people more heart attention than others, why?
I guess I am officially a productivity nerd. I love this GTD model/method for work so much that I printed the above diagram and put it in the front of my moleskine. Organizing your flow of work is key for productivity.
This isn’t just for the workplace! It is an effective tool for home management. If you find that your lists are everywhere around the house, try out a moleskine notebook keep it all together. There needs to one place where most of your thoughts, ideas, lists, prayers, tasks, plans are together.
Mike and I use outlook for social calendaring and appointments. However, for tasks, lists, projects, relationship goals, menu planning, etc- it is good to have a location for all of that. If you are really geeky, like my husband, Mind Maps are effective. If you have an IPhone or other PDA, you can put those there.
Getting Things Done has transformed both Mike’s and my productivity for 5 years. Say goodbye to “open loops”. Capture those tasks and free your brain and heart space. GTD is a method for stewardship. Stewardship is the principle. Godly stewardship is prayerfully considering the practical ways in which God would have you take care of the gifts He has given.
Practically speaking, this method/model helps streamline your thinking not just your productivity. Remember- “open loops” are those thoughts, reminders, tasks, list items swirling around in your brain, uncaptured? Capturing those loops helps you focus more on what is in front of you. Open loops are unfriendly. They create chaos, stress, and keep your productivity stifled.
Proverbs 31: 26-27 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Speaks Wisdom: Have you ever regretted speaking with a friend and you said something you wished you hadn’t? I hate that feeling, knowing I didn’t pray or acknowledge God in the conversation. The fool opens his mouth and speaks. The wise exercises prudence and is thoughtful with each word. I am not suggesting when I see you, you are basically silent then all of the sudden you pipe out KJV language to me, to sound oh so spiritual! YIKES! However, what I do believe is- that if I am prayerful as I listen to someone, whatever comes out of my mouth is thoughtful, prudent, and profitable. Speaking wisdom is James 3, if you want further study on a tongue controlled and submissive to God and for HIS purposes, not our own. Do we really speak wisdom? To whom do you feel like you are more ready to speak wisdom with? Why? Do you care what they think more than possibly your child listening to you? What about your spouse, if you are married? Do you speak wise words that build them up, pursue their heart, pointing them to Jesus, giving gentle correcting and encouragement? Let us speak words of wisdom, giving words that love.
Teaches Kindness: When we communicate with others, what is our posture? If we are to open our mouths with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on our tongue the heart posture is: humble, teachable, ready to speak truth, ready to give encouragement, content to be silent, warm, and wants to walk with a suffering person. The teaching of kindness is not a formula, where you need to have ready in your back pocket a list of kind things that a christian does. The teaching of kindness is knowing God, scripture, the heart is repentant and has experienced the beauty of redemption. AND is ready to be patient and loving with others as they walk through their own transformation. It doesn’t have to be a christian conversation. It is any expression of your joy in Christ, an act of service, a kind word, a warm hug, a meal, a thoughtful prayer, whatever the spirit of God gives. The teaching of kindness IS from God.
Stays Productive: She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. She sees how her household needs to run and she runs it well and to do the job she has to stay productive, not eating the bread of idleness. No sluggards here! Where do you find you are tempted to know what your household needs are and you rebel and choose idleness in the form of distraction? Productivity isn’t just doing stuff. Doing stuff can be just a distraction! NO, the kind of productivity here is focused, active, and persevering. Working until it is done. Productive because of Jesus. Not to just check the item off the list. (talking to myself, here) Productive as an expression of worship. Productive because of stewardship. Productive to love your family. Productive as repentance. (doing things you aren’t fond of). Productive as thankfulness and pleasure. (enjoying the blessings of healthy bodies to do work, appliances to help you, furniture to dust, and precious hungry mouths to feed, etc).
For me-I need more allegiance to the holy spirit when I speak, that I would speak with wisdom, that my mouth would utter kindness and enthusiastically exhort in kindness. I need Jesus to enable my mind, body, and heart to be productive. I do work hard, but the work isn’t ever done. My aim isn’t to have a perfectly clean house anymore, it is to truly worship with work. For me, this means that I am growing in consciousness of Jesus while I do the mundane tasks of caring for my family and home. Asking him for help, depending on Christ in everything, especially in “looking to the ways of my household.”
Our household runs like a machine- most days. I have three extremely verbal, energetic, and planner kids, and one mellow baby. For our days to flow peacefully, I have to plan well and we all have to depend on one another to execute our daily plan.
Mike and me are both “J” leaning towards OCD-ish on the “Myers- Briggs Personality Assessment tool. So, you can imagine how we parent in an organized and planned fashion. We laugh sometimes at how un-spontaneous we are, so we plan spontaneous margin for our weekends, so that our kids can have great ideas and we don’t say no every time.
This past weekend, we have had many projects around the house, mainly getting our detached garage apartment on our property ready to rent. Used to our “projects”, our kids rallied around us carrying big sticks confiscated from our forest for a yard, asking us what they could help us with. We put them to work, praised their adorable efforts, and got dirty with our kids. It was so much fun. Our oldest (6 1/2 year old boy), said he loved gathering rocks, because you never know what rock treasure you can find!
I was thinking as we were working with our kids of the value of work ethic and not just teaching our kids about work and how Christ calls us to stewardship, we also need to get dirty with our kids and enjoy work with them, so that they see the joy in productivity. That tasks and even hard labor is fun, rewarding, and an act of worship.
Routines are essential for our household to run smoothly and efficiently. The older 3 come upstairs right at 7 already dressed for the day, greeting Mike and I for breakfast. Chaos ensues until about 8am as four children work out their breakfast requests, Mike and I scurry about the kitchen meeting their needs as well as our own, hopefully. Each day, in the afternoon, I have our sons do 5 things off a list: 1, 30 minute independent reading, house chore, workbook, house chore with me, and 30 – 60 minute media time. They love the last one the most, lately everyday it is the Wii, star wars. I am so impressed that their hearts are typically not complaining, that God has helped them have content hearts as they set out to do their tasks, they enjoy it and take pride in a job well done. I watch them and coach them, praise them, and talk with them about their days. Sure, there are times where they need reminded to follow through, but as they mature, they need fewer reminders.
Productivity for kids is just living your heart out with your work in front of your kids and inviting them into the process. I have also recently been revealing to my kids that I don’t want to do work sometimes and that mom needs Jesus to help me accomplish this or that. They are watching me, which increases both my passion and my fear for the call on my life to steward, to love these precious kids.
Repenting of my pride in work is tough. I love productivity. Many days I feel more confident and satisfied if at the end of the day I have much to show for it. I enjoy the results. I am the girl that loves the house make-over shows. I love to work hard on a project or my everyday tasks and take a good look at the “after.”
Making lists isn’t all bad. But, what is my heart about when I make them and finish the tasks? I generally feel proud of myself when I can check many things off my task list. In-fact, I have joked before that if I do additional tasks, I will add them just to have more checked off. Making a list organizes me but it also gives me a vision for the day. This is negative if my vision for the day shrinks to the daily tasks. Is share the gospel on the fly with a stranger at the park, encourage my husband spontaneously with sex, think and learn about my world and how it is hurting, on my list? Things that aren’t in my life starring at me, usually aren’t on my list. Which, reinforces the idea that lists shrink my life and don’t encourage me to think of God’s supreme transcendence.
So, the real question is: What does God want to accomplish through me today? Not, what tasks that are in my shrunk little kingdom of Wilkerson are to be accomplished today? Not, what things am I most excited to do today? Not, what items are pressuring me to anxiety?
It is idolatry for me, if I clench my fist around accomplishments or if I look for meaning from accomplishments. I worship the idol of accomplishment, when I stroke it with a prideful satisfaction when I work hard to do my life.
Worship through work is the repentance God is after in me and the reason for this blog- to process my journey to worship, to encourage others to see Jesus Christ in their work, to see His hand and give Him glory, not self.
I confess my sin of this idolatry, replacing the pride of accomplishment, with the hope for humility and dependence on Christ in my work. Repentance for me is to ask the Lord each day what my tasks should be, and as He enables me to accomplish my satisfaction in it would not be absorbed by me, but pass on to Him. Making Jesus look good, not me.
I have been thinking lately about “busy.” What does it really mean?
Titus 2:4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled, pure,working at home, kind, andsubmissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (ESV)
titus 2:4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (NIV)
This must be important, since God would speak to it. So, when a woman is at home, what does being Busy at home, mean…
I would venture to say that there are two types of busy at home
1. Frantic busy: last minute shopping for the last minute meal, last minute phone calls, emails, and trip to the store to get diapers or dog food, because your baby is wearing the last diaper you own. This kind of busy is the gal that is out of breath because she is running in circles, like a dog chasing its own tail. This busy gal is not ever getting time to rest or to enjoy those she loves or she does do those things and lets everything else fall apart around her. She isn’t really busy at all, she creates chaos by not managing/stewarding well, then has to urgently respond to the chaos- which can mask as busyness. Does she enjoy her life creating chaos? Maybe, frantic is fun? She is a busy gal, but she doesn’t seem to ever get it all done. She is urgent driven/minded.
2. Smart busy: planner and sabbather. She menu plans and reads to her kids. She makes love to her husband and has time to play a board game with her family. She is super busy, but is working smart and hard, sometimes fast at working, like during naps when kids are not needing her attention. This smart busy gal is ready for the impromptu visit or call. She is busy at home, but in a different way than the frantic busy gal. She may not get everything done, but smart gal seems to be focused not chaotic.
So, when do each of these busy gals read their Bibles? How about exercise? hmm. Those are good tests for me personally when I can tell my heart has veered over to frantic or urgent driven work. God in his grace offers opportunities for me to get back on track with stewardship of time and resources and doing more smart busy work.
Busy at home is not an “of course.” I could work myself in to a sweat and “miss” those moments that God has called me to, like playing with my children, affection, words, tenderness, laughter, all in exchange for a folded load of laundry? No, thank you!
God wants me to fear Him with my busyness, that I would be motivated primarily to work for his view not for others, that he would teach me to be smart in my labor.
Ever get to zero in your inbox , no pieces of clothing in your hampers- not one dirty dish? WOW! Congratulations! Doesn’t that feel great? And, how long does that last? For me, about 30 minutes for any of it.
I have to do two loads of laundry every day. If I don’t, I have a pile of clothes that could reach the ceiling in a few days. I am totally serious. There are the dishes, the floors, the bathrooms, the cobwebs, the dust, the pine needles in the entry, etc. If I don’t a little every day- balance withdrawls happen. Then, the house Work becomes so accumilated, it is like DEBT. It takes a whole day of work to get back up to zero.
I enjoy making the deposits- so that I don’t have debt. Yet, sometimes I do it to control my work, so it doesn’t control me. IS that good stewardship that leads to worship OR is that controlling work so I am in control? I believe that it is both. Most worshipful opportunities for me -are both. My drive to accomplish to my own end (glory) for self and the other side is to truly steward my life to God’s glory.
My aim is to see Jesus in my laundry. Not literally speaking. But, to see that He cares about the way that I do my laundry. He cares about how I steward what He has given me. Keeping busy to the glory of God. Not rules driven, but a tender submission- that says, the work never ends- and I am thankful I have the clothing and the hands to work with it.
Titus 2:5 says: -to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
HouseWork Debt is inevitable. Worship is stewarding these resources to God’s glory. Thanking Jesus that He is providing for me. God has called me to keep processing all of that, so that the people in my inbox, the clothing, the dishes are stewarded. Working hard and busy, smart and patient, making deposits to avoid debt each day looks like this for me:
3 (15 minutes) time slots for processing email
start load of laundry before kids wake up and fold and put away during nap (30 minute job)(older children fold and put away their own clothes)
load dishwasher after dinner and run it during nighttime
empty dishwasher as I make breakfast
5 minute clean up in kitchen after every meal (children help)
1 room a day to clean and organize (30 minutes)
Tips for making houseWork fun and teachable:
Put on music and dance with the kids when putting up toys
Make organizing projects with the child fun craft time!
Let your children try to help with jobs- encourage their work ethic!
Read to your child while they do a house job
Game with Laundry: “Who can find the most clothing items that our yours,” or matching socks, or sorting.
Have kids dishes stored low in the kitchen, so that they can easily take and put away their dishes.
When a child is taking a bath, talk to him or her and clean out your drawers! (this takes only 10 minutes!)
Have a bed linen day, where everyone brings all of their bedding to the laundry room, and at the end of the day, everyone helps make beds (I do every other week)
Lay out clothes for the next day for your child
Make working rewarding, by talking about it. Encouragement and thankfullness for trying and doing is great!
My relationship with work is complicated. I don’t just work and worship. I tend to grab the glory for myself when I accomplish work and I tend to work by will power and self-sufficiency than humble dependence on God.
Spring fever: A feeling of restlessness, excitement, or laziness brought on by spring.
What is all the fuss with spring cleaning? Shouldn’t we always be cleaning regardless of the season? I think it is a common feeling to be motivated by changing seasons to change things in our environment. When the trees start budding leaves and the air gets scents of bloom, spring fever hits me! Then, I am ready to buy vegetable seeds and excited to make lists of projects for outside and inside the home.
