Cleaning & Perspective

This week, Jeremiah and I spent the week cleaning.  Well, mainly I spent the week doing a deep clean of the apartment (Jeremiah spent the week destroying), doing menu plans for the next two weeks, getting groceries and doing budget items at the beginning of the month.  It always seems that the beginning of the month has lots of little tasks to get ready for that flip of the calendar- at least in my mind.  And then of course, I decided to organize some closets and cabinets- I am just a tad obsessed with organization and cleanliness.  I have asked the Lord to help me not be so obsessed especially now with having basically a toddler who can ransack the pace in 0 to 10 seconds.  My sweet friend Laura put this quote on her blog and I just love this perspective.  This lady has written the book- Loving The Little Years.    And so since this challenged me so much, I thought I would share it too!  Sometimes it is easy for us to feel like our tasks are menial or pointless but I pray I would have this perspective and serve with joy my family when I am doing dishes for the 5th time in a day.  :) 

"Imagine you spent the day rearranging and cleaning up the living space in your home. You have flowers and clean curtains and fresh throw pillows and maybe a candle. You are pleased. The right lights are on. Things are good. And then, like the wolf on the fold, the people in your life descend upon your work. They peel off socks and put their feet on the coffee table. They come from afar bringing baskets of craftiness to spread out upon the couch. They pop popcorn and carelessly munch. Someone goes so far as to get out the puzzles. In such a moment, it would be easy (don’t ask me how I know) to become shrill. It is easy to see each chin-glancing popcorn shrapnel as an insult. “Don’t you value the work I do?!” “Don’t you care how long this took me?!” “Why can’t you just not do this??” Even if you don’t say it, you may feel a little despair, a little resentment, and a little “why do I even try?”.

But the truth is, we need a new perspective. It is moments like this that should give us a lot of job satisfaction. These people are enjoying you. They are enjoying your work. But, like a great dinner all laid out on the table, you don’t enjoy it without touching it. A chef would not look at dishes coming back to the kitchen untouched as a sign of success. It would not mean great things about your work. Yet this is what we want from the work we do in our homes.

I’m sure most of you have noticed the magnetic power of what you clean. Clean the bookshelf up, and everyone wants to read. Organize the little toys, and everyone wants to play with the things they have been callously walking on for days. This is a sign that you are succeeding, that your people love your work. Think of it like food, because that is how it is getting used."

by Rachel Jankovic at Femina

Jeremiah runs with glee whenever I vacuum- he actually runs to get his pusher and hits the vacuum- typical boy

So the kid is a walking machine now and loves to babble all sorts of noises- his one this morning- gulla gulla

Michael & Jeremiah brought me some beautiful tulips when they ran to the store this week!

Jeremiah ate his first PB & J sandwich and he LOVES it- just like his daddy!