This
past Sunday was cleaning day in our house.
I know, I know, day of rest and all that. But I have children, and they need to learn
life, and life includes cleaning, and I have lived with enough people who never
were taught or expected to clean up after themselves to know that children need
to be taught to clean up after themselves.
Because living with adults who don’t clean up after themselves is
totally disgusting. So, even though I am
at home all week while everyone else is gone and my role as Stay At Home Mom
traditionally includes the task of cleaning the whole house of everyone else’s
filth, I say SCREW THAT. We were away on
Saturday, so Sunday won cleaning day this weekend.
And
there was resistance. From all parties
involved.
The
opposition came in many forms.
Eye-rolling, disgusted tsk-ing and complaints of “But I just wanted to
watch the game today!” and “I’m tired!” and “But I have homework!” One family
member snuck up to her room, plugged in, and pretended not to hear the
proclamation of Cleaning Day.
Nobody
wanted to clean today. Including me.
I
dug in my heels and appealed to the only side I could, the practical one. If we all work for an hour and a half, we can
clean this house from top to bottom. I
didn’t want to clean either, but I sure didn’t want to save the job for myself
for later, where it would take me half a day or more. Many hands make light work: isn’t that one of
the biggest truths of the universe?
We
worked, and in an hour and ten minutes, our house was sparkling clean. And we all felt good about that, and we still
had the rest of the day to watch the game, do homework, take a nap, and rest on
Sunday.
“I
don’t want to” is a refrain that takes many forms. Complaining about it, saying we don’t have time,
being physically unable, hiding behind other responsibilities; when there is a
job to do and we don’t want to do it, we become very creative in avoiding it.
I
know this because I have an arsenal of avoidance tactics that are custom-built
for nearly any situation.
Everyone
is different. Some people are natural
do-gooders who find themselves burned out on good deeds and helping, helping, helping. They spread themselves too thin and avoid
taking care of their health, their families, their own needs because they want
to help others. These yes people may
struggle to find a balance between caring for others and caring for themselves.
Others
are hermits and create work for themselves so that they don’t have to help
anyone. They fill their days with their
own tasks and say that they don’t have time or resources to help others, that
caring for themselves or their family is enough work for them to do. They say
no to nearly every request to help, and operate in their own world, where they
don’t have to bother with unknown variables that might surface when helping others.
Even
though the do-gooder types might get more recognition for serving, neither one
of these types of people does any good in the long run. Sure, either kind of person can say they are helping, whether their
own families or others, but doing all of one and not the other is not
ideal. And they suffer.
We
are made to be social, to help others, to love each other through actions, to
serve. God created us to be in communion
with him and each other. Jesus showed us
what it means to serve. Paul showed us
to go outside our comfort zone to serve and grow our faith. That may look like spending more time at home with
our families or going out into the world.
When
we are called by God to do something, it is usually to serve, to help, to give
of ourselves for his Kingdom. Serving
takes many forms. Though we don’t have
to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations to serve, we are asked to serve regularly
in some capacity, whether it is to encourage someone in a new venture, pick up
a friend from the airport, minister to the homeless, to bring the gospel to a
foreign place.
Or
maybe even to teach children the responsibility of cleaning their home.
We
all are part of God’s Kingdom, and we all have tasks. We are not expected to do all the tasks
ourselves, nor are we expected to let others do all of them. They might not ones that we particularly
enjoy doing, and we might resist them at first, but when we serve, we bless
others. And in turn, God blesses us.
*******
Therefore if you have any encouragement from
being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing
in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my
joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not
looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with
one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very
nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:1-11 (NIV)
This is wonderful. I had a conversation just yesterday with another stay at home mom about how important it is to teach the kids to do practical things, like laundry and cleaning, for themselves or suddenly they will be adults who don't know how to do things either. Tasks shared are always easier to handle.
ReplyDeleteYes! And the lessons have to be repeated, over and over. And over, sometimes. :)
DeleteThose cleaning days are Good times :-). Thanks for teaching all of us and helping to put perspective on balance.
ReplyDelete:)
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