Dirty Laundry is God's BLESSINGS!
OK, you now are thinking, "The broad has finally went nuts. I knew it would happen!" ROFLOL Let me explain as I just finished load gazillionth, ok?
This was supposed to be MY WEEKEND. MINE, YOU HEAR! Hubby took youngest son to kill things in the woods and would be gone for the weekend. Next son will be in school by day, working evenings, and tonight will be with the school band doing the band thing. Sounds divine, right? ME TIME! ME TIME! ME TIME! W-R-O-N-G!!
Went to bed last night with vision of glorious ME TIME floating through my head entangled with the few odds and ends I had to do. I was a bit frustrated as "ME TIME" couldn't be reached until I did the wife/mom things. Oh, well, it would be ok.
Didn't sleep. Dreamed of fighting with Betty White or maybe it was her voice where I'd left the TV on. Not good. I think she was winning. It is now the middle of the night and I am in excruiating pain. No problem. Untangle myself from the bed, find some stuff for headache, etc. drink water and back to bed.
WELL GREAT! Now I need to go to the bathroom! So, again with the untangle and schlep to the bathroom. Yes, the dog is looking at me like "Stupid human." Again, to bed.
Rise early in the AM to see son off to school as this is "our" time to chat and be alone. Great! He's sick and sounds like a barking dog. Yes, it is asthma time, I know the drill. Call make a dr apptmt., hurry start a load of laundry, pay the bills quickly, run son to dr., go to get his eyeglasses, run son to school, back to the drug store for meds, to the PO to pay the bills, run to store to get RELAXATION SCENTED CANDLES (HA!), and finally H-O-M-E!!!!
Yeah, is this ME TIME OR WHAT?
Now, you are up to speed on my "free time" that my husband has permitted for me to have this weekend.
I was doing laundry for the gazillionth time trying to finish my wife/mom stuff to get to the ME TIME when it hit me hard. Yeah, that's usually the Holy Spirit giving me a what for which I needed.
As I folded the laundry, I realized, as I had told the ladies in our church group,
"We have altars all over our house, but do we use them? When we are standing at the sink washing dishes, it is quiet and we can choose to pray and be with God. When we make the bed, another altar we can choose to pray and be with God thanking Him we have a safe warm place to sleep. Scrubbing the toilet.....stick with me....an altar to bend our knees and thank God we have a family to share our life with, which is why the toilet needs cleaned."
Getting the idea? I hope so. Let's think for a moment instead of what "work" we have to do and instead realize it is God's work our hands get to do. Doesn't God's word state that all we do we are to do to the glory of God? Doesn't God's word say what we have done to the least of these, we have done to Him? There's something to think on. We GET to be ministers to our family showing the love of God through cleaning toilets, dirty laundry, scoured tubs, etc.
What of the woman whose husband passed away and she no longer has the blessing of washing his clothes? What of the woman whose child is a grown adult in Iraq and would pay anything to clean up the dirt or crumbs they leave behind? What about those orphan socks we all have? Wouldn't the homeless who have no socks at all love to have a mismatched pair? And, I shall end here, but the list can and does go on. It is merely an attitude switch.
So, when I become selfish and grudging about ME TIME, maybe what I really need to do is pray at the altar of my washer & dryer being thankful they work, being thankful I have a family who has dirty clothes instead of being naked, being thankful that I have money to pay the water & electric which make my washer & dryer work and yes, for my messy house which really isn't messy at all....it is proof of the love I have in my life brought to me through my family by God's hand.
This was supposed to be MY WEEKEND. MINE, YOU HEAR! Hubby took youngest son to kill things in the woods and would be gone for the weekend. Next son will be in school by day, working evenings, and tonight will be with the school band doing the band thing. Sounds divine, right? ME TIME! ME TIME! ME TIME! W-R-O-N-G!!
Went to bed last night with vision of glorious ME TIME floating through my head entangled with the few odds and ends I had to do. I was a bit frustrated as "ME TIME" couldn't be reached until I did the wife/mom things. Oh, well, it would be ok.
Didn't sleep. Dreamed of fighting with Betty White or maybe it was her voice where I'd left the TV on. Not good. I think she was winning. It is now the middle of the night and I am in excruiating pain. No problem. Untangle myself from the bed, find some stuff for headache, etc. drink water and back to bed.
WELL GREAT! Now I need to go to the bathroom! So, again with the untangle and schlep to the bathroom. Yes, the dog is looking at me like "Stupid human." Again, to bed.
Rise early in the AM to see son off to school as this is "our" time to chat and be alone. Great! He's sick and sounds like a barking dog. Yes, it is asthma time, I know the drill. Call make a dr apptmt., hurry start a load of laundry, pay the bills quickly, run son to dr., go to get his eyeglasses, run son to school, back to the drug store for meds, to the PO to pay the bills, run to store to get RELAXATION SCENTED CANDLES (HA!), and finally H-O-M-E!!!!
Yeah, is this ME TIME OR WHAT?
Now, you are up to speed on my "free time" that my husband has permitted for me to have this weekend.
I was doing laundry for the gazillionth time trying to finish my wife/mom stuff to get to the ME TIME when it hit me hard. Yeah, that's usually the Holy Spirit giving me a what for which I needed.
As I folded the laundry, I realized, as I had told the ladies in our church group,
"We have altars all over our house, but do we use them? When we are standing at the sink washing dishes, it is quiet and we can choose to pray and be with God. When we make the bed, another altar we can choose to pray and be with God thanking Him we have a safe warm place to sleep. Scrubbing the toilet.....stick with me....an altar to bend our knees and thank God we have a family to share our life with, which is why the toilet needs cleaned."
Getting the idea? I hope so. Let's think for a moment instead of what "work" we have to do and instead realize it is God's work our hands get to do. Doesn't God's word state that all we do we are to do to the glory of God? Doesn't God's word say what we have done to the least of these, we have done to Him? There's something to think on. We GET to be ministers to our family showing the love of God through cleaning toilets, dirty laundry, scoured tubs, etc.
What of the woman whose husband passed away and she no longer has the blessing of washing his clothes? What of the woman whose child is a grown adult in Iraq and would pay anything to clean up the dirt or crumbs they leave behind? What about those orphan socks we all have? Wouldn't the homeless who have no socks at all love to have a mismatched pair? And, I shall end here, but the list can and does go on. It is merely an attitude switch.
So, when I become selfish and grudging about ME TIME, maybe what I really need to do is pray at the altar of my washer & dryer being thankful they work, being thankful I have a family who has dirty clothes instead of being naked, being thankful that I have money to pay the water & electric which make my washer & dryer work and yes, for my messy house which really isn't messy at all....it is proof of the love I have in my life brought to me through my family by God's hand.
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