A Woman's Work is Never Done

Haven't we heard that saying before?  It may seem like a line from an grandparent or another older person. It definitely doesn't seem like something our generation has grown up saying.  After all, our generation seems to love idleness and gluttony.  But isn't it true?  

If you are a mother the days are long and the nights are short, especially if you have youngin's.  There can constantly be one hundred and fifty-seven things on your to-do list and you can still find one more thing to add to that list as you rock your baby to sleep. Your mind doesn't shut down.  

Even God's Word (not mine) has something to say on the subject of staying busy doing good things.  Proverbs 31 is a good reference for noble things a woman can stay busy at.  

As good and right are those things, what I want to address today is our heart.

Our hearts need refining.  They need work.   Left to themselves we would drown in our sin.  So, what can we do to keep from having anger as we parent our children?  What will keep us from resenting our decision to stay home, caring for an ever-demanding infant or highly energetic toddler/preschooler?  How can I be joyful to see my husband and look to serve him when he walks in the door, rather than throwing the baby in his arms and running for the door?  Haha!

What about you working ladies?  How well do you do at respecting your boss?  What do your co-workers think of your attitude at work?  Are you resentful at the raise someone else got?

God wants us to draw near to Him.  Our hearts will never be so "good" and "pure" that they will never need working on.  

Jeremiah 17:9-10
"The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;
who can understand it?

10 “I the Lord search the heart

and test the mind, 

to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Matthew 15:18

"But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person."

If we don't take care to guard our hearts, Satan will be lurking at every twist and turn of our day.  I want to make it a constant pulse in my day to keep asking God to search my heart and test my mind.  

How do I guard my heart?
You guard your heart by reading God's Word.  Every little bit that you can absorb.  Let it seep into your heart.  Meditate on His Word.  Pick a verse and think on it throughout your day.  Memorize it.  You can do it!

Remember... I want to be intentional in my priorities.

~Meghan

Empty Those Drawers

Today, as I was putting away laundry, I tried to shove another pair of socks into its drawer (really, socks have their very own drawer?) to no avail. 

No matter how much I tried the drawer was just too full. Now, I realize the sock drawer can become messy and disorganized if I don't take time to stop and consider what's inside already. 

Am I taking the sock thing a little too far?

Well, let's put it in terms of my every day life. Oh yes, I am going to compare my life to a drawer full of socks. 

 

As I purged all of my socks onto the bed for complete consideration and analization I once again saw before me what I already knew was there. Socks of old. I'm talking years old. As in when we first got married "old". Sigh. 

They are the fun, fuzzy socks. The ones you put on for fun in the winter months. And friends, let me confess to you I found 22 pairs of those things! Ack!  Who in the world needs that many?  Not I!

So after I piled up the old ones and found the new (one still had tags!) I put everything back in place. So refreshing to be able to open my sock drawer without exerting much effort and be able to close it with smoothness and know everything is in its place until the next time I open it. 

"Now how in the world is she gonna' apply this metaphor to her life", you might be asking. 

See, my daily life is like that drawer in that I can very easily cram my day full of things that don't need to be there. 

Priorities

If I chose a word for myself this year, this keeps coming to mind. The socks represent anything I choose to spend time on in a given day. Some things are good and should stay in my routine; some don't fit my life anymore and need to be pitched; others are old and aren't purposeful. And there are some new things I want to add to my daily life this year and I haven't got room for them. 

So... 

Bible reading - stays

Keeping my home clean - stays

Giving my kids focused attention - stays

Intentional love towards my husband - stays

Facebook - goes (it's a huge time-waster for me, although I will still add posts from this blog on there)

I'm sure there are other things that will need adjusted. This is just a start for me. But as I think through my priorities, what should be high on the list, what is of lesser importance and what needs taken off the list, I also want to view each activity through the lenses of "being God-focused" and "being intentional". 

Whether it's washing the laundry, reading a book for fun, or jumping on the trampoline with our kids to build into that relationship, I want to be focused. I want my heart to be prepared by having spent time with God in His word so I am ready to point my children back to Him.  I need my heart prepared to do dishes with joyfulness, even if it's the 32nd load that week. 

Do you have anything you are being led to do?  Feel free to share with us!  Big or small, our efforts should be intentional. Let's encourage one another!

Needing grace for these moments,

Meghan