The next verse though, is one that I am determined to work on. Call it a New Year's Resolution if you will, but verse 18 is something I am trying to live out.
Verse 18: "She senses the worth of her work, is in no hurry to call it quits for the day."
So often, we Moms get into this routine and rut of trying to hurry from Point A to Point B during the day. How often on Facebook do we see Moms saying "Ugggg...naptime, hurry up!!!!!" or something very similar. In doing so, we're burning up so much time. We are not seeing the worth of our work. About a year ago in a Small Group for Stay-at-Home Moms, this verse sucker punched me in the face. I realized that I was looking at my task of being a Mom not as a blessing, but as a curse. I was wasting my days away trying to get things done. At the time, we were building on to our house and there was an overwhelming amount of work to be done. I would wake up early and stain wood or clean up construction debris and then as the kids woke up, I remember calculating how many hours until naptime so that I could get back to my work. When they woke up from their naps, I would calculate how many hours would pass until bedtime so that I could get back to what I deemed to be so important. It sounds terrible as I type it now. I'm just glad that I realized the pit I was falling in to. I had forgotten that the most important part of my day was to enjoy my kids and to let them enjoy me as their Mom. I have an awesome Mom. As I look back on my childhood, I honestly can't remember a time when my Mom placed more value on a clean house over spending time with her kids. I don't remember her ever putting our needs and time together on the backburner so that she could get something accomplished. That is what I am striving for.
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't an excuse for not getting things done around the house- "Sorry honey, the laundry isn't done, there is no food in the house, and it looks like a tornado ripped through here, but at least we had a fun day, didn't we kids?" What it is, is a call to balance out the "have-to" aspect of Motherhood with the "want-to". It's a call to begin to be good stewards of our time. It's a call to stop complaining about the work that lies before us. I despise doing laundry. Of all the household jobs I have, it ranks way at the bottom. When I fold laundry, instead of the internal grumbling I used to partake in, I now try to listen to some worship music or pray. The downside to this is that at times I totally lose track of whose pile I am putting clothes in and end up with everyone's clothes disbursed throughout the stacks which started off so organized! So folding laundry might take me twice the time it used to in "grumble mode", but at least I am in a positive frame of mind! So if you find yourself playing the role of the "household chore victim" and are more of a martyr than a Mother, I would encourage you to spruce up your routine a little with some worship music or prayer. You'll find joy and value in what was once trivial, redundant, or mindless work. Your work will take on some worth.
In closing, let me encourage all of you Husbands out there who may be reading this to go home and thank your wife for the work she does daily. Even if, in your mind, you think she could do a better job. Take it from me, it's hard work to hold a household together! Particularly in the winter, things can become pretty monotonous. A genuine "thank you" or, if you really want to go out of your way, a note or small gift thanking your wife for all she does could go a long way. Think about your own job, guys. If your boss stops by and tells you what a great job you're doing, don't you want to put out even more effort after that? The same holds true for the woman you love, who is working hard all day to clean the house, prepare the meals, raise the children, and still retain some semblance of womanhood. It's multi-tasking on steroids.
And finally, let me encourage you Moms out there- the tasks you and I are called to each day are definitely worth our time. There is a beautiful joy that wells up inside of me when I look at my smiling kids at the end of the day and think to myself all the fun that we had and how any complications, any chores, any interruptions to my routine were certainly worth it. We need to be encouraged and know that we're not just wasting our lives away. At the end of the day, I want to know that I put my best effort in and that even though "things" may not be perfect, "things" are not important in the scope of eternity anyway. My house will someday be a pile of rubble. All the work that I pour into it won't matter one bit at the end of my days on this earth. What lasts, what matters is that I live out my life in a healthy Spiritual manner and that I devote myself to the care, love, and education of my children- that I sense the worth of my work and am in no hurry to call it quits for the day. Cherish every second and live your life well. Your work is definitely worth it!
So often, we Moms get into this routine and rut of trying to hurry from Point A to Point B during the day. How often on Facebook do we see Moms saying "Ugggg...naptime, hurry up!!!!!" or something very similar. In doing so, we're burning up so much time. We are not seeing the worth of our work. About a year ago in a Small Group for Stay-at-Home Moms, this verse sucker punched me in the face. I realized that I was looking at my task of being a Mom not as a blessing, but as a curse. I was wasting my days away trying to get things done. At the time, we were building on to our house and there was an overwhelming amount of work to be done. I would wake up early and stain wood or clean up construction debris and then as the kids woke up, I remember calculating how many hours until naptime so that I could get back to my work. When they woke up from their naps, I would calculate how many hours would pass until bedtime so that I could get back to what I deemed to be so important. It sounds terrible as I type it now. I'm just glad that I realized the pit I was falling in to. I had forgotten that the most important part of my day was to enjoy my kids and to let them enjoy me as their Mom. I have an awesome Mom. As I look back on my childhood, I honestly can't remember a time when my Mom placed more value on a clean house over spending time with her kids. I don't remember her ever putting our needs and time together on the backburner so that she could get something accomplished. That is what I am striving for.
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't an excuse for not getting things done around the house- "Sorry honey, the laundry isn't done, there is no food in the house, and it looks like a tornado ripped through here, but at least we had a fun day, didn't we kids?" What it is, is a call to balance out the "have-to" aspect of Motherhood with the "want-to". It's a call to begin to be good stewards of our time. It's a call to stop complaining about the work that lies before us. I despise doing laundry. Of all the household jobs I have, it ranks way at the bottom. When I fold laundry, instead of the internal grumbling I used to partake in, I now try to listen to some worship music or pray. The downside to this is that at times I totally lose track of whose pile I am putting clothes in and end up with everyone's clothes disbursed throughout the stacks which started off so organized! So folding laundry might take me twice the time it used to in "grumble mode", but at least I am in a positive frame of mind! So if you find yourself playing the role of the "household chore victim" and are more of a martyr than a Mother, I would encourage you to spruce up your routine a little with some worship music or prayer. You'll find joy and value in what was once trivial, redundant, or mindless work. Your work will take on some worth.
In closing, let me encourage all of you Husbands out there who may be reading this to go home and thank your wife for the work she does daily. Even if, in your mind, you think she could do a better job. Take it from me, it's hard work to hold a household together! Particularly in the winter, things can become pretty monotonous. A genuine "thank you" or, if you really want to go out of your way, a note or small gift thanking your wife for all she does could go a long way. Think about your own job, guys. If your boss stops by and tells you what a great job you're doing, don't you want to put out even more effort after that? The same holds true for the woman you love, who is working hard all day to clean the house, prepare the meals, raise the children, and still retain some semblance of womanhood. It's multi-tasking on steroids.
And finally, let me encourage you Moms out there- the tasks you and I are called to each day are definitely worth our time. There is a beautiful joy that wells up inside of me when I look at my smiling kids at the end of the day and think to myself all the fun that we had and how any complications, any chores, any interruptions to my routine were certainly worth it. We need to be encouraged and know that we're not just wasting our lives away. At the end of the day, I want to know that I put my best effort in and that even though "things" may not be perfect, "things" are not important in the scope of eternity anyway. My house will someday be a pile of rubble. All the work that I pour into it won't matter one bit at the end of my days on this earth. What lasts, what matters is that I live out my life in a healthy Spiritual manner and that I devote myself to the care, love, and education of my children- that I sense the worth of my work and am in no hurry to call it quits for the day. Cherish every second and live your life well. Your work is definitely worth it!
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