Micah, again.

I was reminding Micah about making sure he was going to use the toilet when he needed to go and he responded, "Yeah.  I will.  You don't need to worry."  Another common response (to my, say, needing to use the restroom) is, "Ok, that'd be fine, you can do that."  I can tell that both of these are something I must say all the time, because he sounded just like me, not like a 2 and 1/2 year old.

"I'm going to show the mirror to me." (I giggled so he amended his statement).  "I'm going to show the mirror to myself.  Look, here's a picture of myself" (in the hand mirror).

Housecleaning

The other day I was thinking back to what I used to do as a new wife.  Before kids, we lived in a tiny old cabin.  We all called it a shack until it became my future home, then we kindly started referring to it as a rustic cabin. I scrubbed, painted, sewed, arranged, rearranged, and, to my amusement now, I often vacuumed twice a day.  And that was only the inside.  For a 450 sq. ft. or so home, that was probably a bit overkill.  As I think back, my tiny house was so clean and I believe I made it quite cute.  Ah... nostalgic.  Well, now, I have an 1800 mostly finished 85 yr old house which I vacuum very irregularly, almost never mop (not sure how to take care of cracked wood floors that have lost their seal), and have a living room that can only hope to be clean from 9 pm to 6:30 am.  I appalled at how infrequently I scrub anything, and yesterday I noticed some spots on the ceiling from about 8 months ago.

I think many moms would say, "Well, you have two little kids, life is like that."  But, unhappily, I think that very idea has been one of the causes of my continually messy house.  I have been duped!  Everything around me says, "give yourself a break!" "do something for yourself."  I do that very well without any encouragement.  I decided to seek Biblical guidance on housecleaning.  Now there's not much there that is directly intended for that topic.  But under the instruction of "Teach Them Diligently" by Lou Priolo, I wrote down my "problem," phrased it Biblical terms (disorderly rather than messy, etc.) and looked up verses from which principles can be derived.  Here's what I came up with. 

Irritant: Messy house, continually cleaning, continually generating a messy house!

Biblical interpretation:  Having a disorderly house leads me to anger, despair, and resentment against other mess-makers.  I make a messy house by my slothfulness, disorderliness, carelessness.  Having a messy house disturbs my peaceful heart (rightly or not), burdens my husband (to either clean or put up with a discontent, distracted wife), and is a means of hypocrisy when I require more of my kids than of myself. 

Slothfulness: 
1 Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 
Prov 6:6-11 Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise,
Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler,
Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.
How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
"A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest"--
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

Disorderliness:
1 Cor 14:40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.  
1 Cor 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Hypocrisy:
Mat 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Jesus also tells the hypocritical Pharisees that they will receive greater condemnation for their hypocrisy.) 
Job 8:13   So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. (JKV)
 

 Excellent Wife:  The entire 31st Proverb which, when I am listening to the world's advice, has been my nemesis. In particular these verses: 
¹³She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
works joyfully 
¹⁵She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.  
disciplined 
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.   
manages her home 
²⁸Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:  
praiseworthy 
²⁹"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all."  
distinguished 

³⁰Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,

But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.  

God-fearing 

³¹Give her the product of her hands, 

And let her works praise her in the gates. 

Honored
  
This is a work in progress. I'm sure over the next 60 years I will revisit this topic many many times.  For now, I have some meditating to do on the verses, along with prayer that God will change my vision for my home into His vision for my home.  I do not want Him to chide me as He does Martha for being "worried and bothered about so many things."  Yet I do not want to be a slob to the point of failing to obey the commands to practice hospitality, among others. 

You know, I would just love to have year long apprenticeship under Sarah Edwards.  She had tasks we don't even think of today! She joyfully poured her life out to provide Jonathan all the time he needed to fulfill his God-given calling.  She lovingly housed guests for extended periods of time.  She took time to have valuable conversations with her children and her guests. According to a guest of theirs, Samuel Hopkins, Sarah was "in every sense a help mate for [Jonathan], one who made their common dwelling an abode of order and neatness, of peace and comfort, of love and harmony, to all its inmates, and of kindness and hospitality to the friend, the visitant, and the stranger."

So, off to scrub the bathrooms.