Tag Archive | purpose

Simplify

May5

This is probably a theme you’ve no doubt heard about lately.  Simplify your life… your home, your activities, your cooking, etc.  And oh, has this been true in my life.  This post is about simplifying your home.

We recently made an out-of-state move which involved selling one home and buying another.  It was one long, drawn-out, tiresome event, and I never want to do it again!

However, in the whole ugly process, I definitely learned a great thing… SIMPLIFY YOUR HOME.

Do you know what led me to this?  Having our house for sale!  And what do you have to do when your house is for sale?  Declutter, minimize, and de-personalize it.  

When we got our home ready for the sale, we put away a LOT of things so as to make it look open, fresh, and clean.  And guess what?  I didn’t end up missing any of it!  I say ‘no’ to knickknacks now.  All they are good for are dusting!  (Ok – I shouldn’t say I don’t have ANY knickknacks, but I’m down to allowing only a few places around our home to house them, and the displayed item has to have had some major significant emotional attachment to have made the cut.)

And, once we arrived in our new home and started unpacking, we ended up donating three-quarters of all the ‘clutter’ stuff we had packed away when the old house was for sale.  We didn’t want it anymore!  (By the way another lesson was learned here:  Get RID of your stuff before you move.  Otherwise you pay to A.)Pack it  B.)Move it  C.)Store it.  And if you get rid of something and find you need it again, you can re-buy it for cheaper than the packing/moving/storing would have cost you.)

Back to the simplifying topic… How about the kitchen, you ask?  Our counters have never been so clear and I love it.  I have found space in our cabinets for all appliances except the coffee maker and toaster.  And I actually donated a couple of larger appliances (i.e. a bread maker and an indoor grill).  Why get rid of perfectly good items?  I hadn’t used them in years.  They took up so much space that I needed for other daily items.

This concept fits the bathroom as well.  The functional things I need regularly go into drawers or cabinets.  Instead of storing cotton balls or Q-tips in clear glass jars on your counter top (like all the home and garden magazines show), put them in a drawer or a cabinet. Put it away… don’t keep it out.  Do you know what a good feeling it is to spray down your counter and wipe it clean without having to move aside or wipe around all that useless clutter on your countertop?  Clutter attracts clutter, and cleanliness attracts cleanliness!

SO, get rid of all those candle holders, candy bowls, baskets, dusty fake flowers, magazine tubs (when you’re done with the magazine, give it away or recycle it), figurines, pencil holders (put your office supplies in a well-organized drawer), and ornamental whatevers.  Trust me – you’ll never miss them!

Turn it off!

Apr13

We all love technology.  Seriously – paying bills has never been so easy.  (When was the last time you even used a stamp? Besides your Christmas cards.)  It is so convenient in keeping up with loved ones, sharing pictures, you name it.

BUT, is it turning into a bad thing?  How about this question:  When we’re with our children, are we really with them or are we just physically there, but mentally disengaged?  Because we’re on our phone… or the laptop… or both.  We’re there, but we’re not really there.

I saw an extremely sad case of this last year.  EVERY time I went to pick up my daughter from her homeschool art class, I happened to notice one of the other moms that was picking up her daughter.  I noticed her because I never saw her NOT on her cell phone.  And she had two other little ones in tow as well.  When her daughter came out of the class, she was always trying to show her mom what she had made in class.  I figured the mom would at least hang up when the kids started piling out of the classroom, but unfortunately no, she never missed a beat in her conversation.  Her children got the soundbites, “Neat Honey! How pretty!… (Then back to cell-phone caller) So anyway, we’re leaving the class now, blah blah blah.”  And her three precious children would follow her back down the hallway and out the door.  Sad.  I’m sure she’s a very nice gal, but I wonder if the convenience of technology is slowly pulling her spirit out of her calling.

There is definitely a place for all of these modern conveniences, but how do we find the balance?  I think the key idea is to always maintain our priorities in the right order. 

For a homemaker, anything that does not fall into the following categories (in this exact order), gets put at the bottom of the list, after everything else:

  1. God
  2. Husband
  3. Children
  4. Home

Obviously these are dynamic, living categories that often overflow one-into-another.  Example - I will sometimes have to be online paying bills at the same time I’m working with my kiddos. But I have taken the time to explain to my children that one of my homemaking duties is taking care of our finances, so they will see me doing “office work” from time-to-time.

But being online doing Facebook (or this blog) while my husband, kids, or home is neglected can’t be justified.  Just like sitting there watching TV while my other priorities are put aside doesn’t fly either.  I can’t justify that to my family or to the Lord.  My husband certainly can’t sit at his desk at work and do Facebook during working hours, so why should I be able to?  (Actually, I think we’re the last remaining family that is NOT on Facebook as of now anyway, so that problem’s solved!)

So how am I doing this blog? :)

When I can fit it in.  Honestly.  I am still so highly needed in my homemaking role in which I support a hard-working husband, homeschool the kiddos, and maintain the home, that anything else can only fit in after I feel I have everything else in order and nothing is being neglected.  I hope to find time to get posts written somewhat regularly, but I would be abandoning my duties if I prioritized this above anything on the list.

I definitely feel it on my heart to start sharing God’s ideas with some of the younger gals out there, but I’m also very accepting that it will be done after I’ve been faithful to keeping my priorities.

So the purpose of this post is to encourage all you other moms out there to do the same.  Keep your phones and laptops put away when you’re on homemaking duty!  There will be a season later in your life that will afford you much more down-time in which you can pursue these interests.  And it will be here before you know it.  So enjoy the season you are in right now and don’t fall into the trap of being lulled away by the glow of a screen… or two!

She does not eat the bread of idleness

Apr8

“She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”  Proverbs 31:27.

This is a verse that I finally paid attention to about 5 years ago.  And I really needed to pay attention to it.  It wasn’t that I was extremely lazy, but I definitely had the “I need my time” syndrome going on a little too much.  So anytime the kids were occupied for an extended period of time (i.e. naptime), then that was my TV time, magazine reading time, etc.  Now, of course, we all need some down-time during the day (especially when we have little ones that are SO physically demanding!), but I was becoming way too self-absorbed.  Never a good thing.

One day, in a women’s Bible study, we were reviewing this verse.  And I was suddenly convicted.  I realized I was in a bad cycle…I wasn’t using my time wisely because when I had a few minutes in which I could be productive, I was instead being lazy. I was becoming ‘one’ with the TV. And the down-side was that I was always behind on my homemaking duties, meal planning, laundry, etc., and realized I had no excuse for it.

So, after that day, every time I went to sit down and say, “Ah, finally a few well-deserved minutes to my awesome self!”, I started thinking, OK.  There’s at least one purposeful thing I can get done before I park it on that couch.  So, I started doing at least ONE thing.  Even if all I did was get my ingredients out and prepped for dinner.  Or maybe spend a few minutes decluttering that horrendous pile of paper at the end of the kitchen counter that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.  And soon one thing turned in to a few things.  And before I knew it, I was feeling really purposeful at the end of my day, and my house was getting cleaner and cleaner!  And on the days that I knew I needed to decompress for a while, I actually paid attention to the clock and would give myself a half-hour or so to have a cup of tea, and then I’d get back to the things that God has asked of me as the home maker of this home.

And I was pleasantly surprised at a few of the results:

  1. I realized how much better a room looks after it’s been vacuumed.
  2. Hubby was MUCH happier coming home to a much cleaner house for the first time EVER in our marriage.
  3. I finally felt on top of things for once, rather than always feeling totally behind and unprepared.  When you start experiencing this, it finally dawns on you that orderliness is an incredible virtue.  It allows you to be so much more available for unexpected events.
  4. By the time I made it to bed, I was tired, and it was a really good, justified tired!

Although I am far from perfect in this area,  my new verse has become:

“She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.” Proverbs 31:17.