"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, for babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep." I love this quote just because of the nuggets of truth behind it! I am not advocating letting your house fall apart so you can always be sitting and holding your child, but I am saying that your house does not have to be perfect! In my home, this is something I struggle with every once in a while. It seems like I could always find something to do, dishes, run the sweeper, laundry, organize the closet, clean out the desk, but when Donovan or Brenden says "Mommy, come play cars with me!" or "Mommy, can I sit with you for a while?" who am I to say "no buddy, I have to go do this, or that". I was thinking, when my kids are grown and come talk to me they arent going to say, "boy mom, I really wish you had color coded our homeschool supplies" or even "mom, I am glad you organized the pantry, desk, and closets when we were kids". More than likely, they are going to come back to me and say "mom, I am really glad you took time to play with me, or rock me, or color with me". I need to make sure that I have my priorities right.
I love that God has laid down the plan for me. I am to put God first, then my husband, followed by my children, all the while fulfilling my role as a wife and mother. How easy is that if I will just submit my will to God's plan? There are times when I see mothers with the "perfect mother syndrome". You know what I am talking about, the picture of the woman on the 1950's Good Housekeeping magazine when she has her hair and makeup done perfect in a pretty dress and high heels with a fresh pie in one hand and a baby on the other hip with the spotless house in the background? This picture perfect ideal is so unrealistic for the everyday woman. Or perhaps it is your reality but you spend so much time doing everything perfectly that you don't take time out to enjoy what you have. For example, a mother may be too busy cleaning and organizing to rock her baby to sleep for a nap and before she knows it the baby is 2 and doesn't want to be held at all. Maybe its more like the mother has her own schedule of how the day is going to go and when the child or children have other plans she is angry, flustered or even short tempered with her children because they are not following her "to-do" list. As mothers, we need to make sure we are fulfilling our roles and keeping the house, but we also need to be fulfilling our roles and loving and nurturing our children.
I know I have said a lot, and I have so many more thoughts about this running through my head, but I ask you to bear with me and just give consideration to what I had to say today. Look at your own life and see where your priorities are and if they need adjusted. Mostly remember to pray and ask God for guidance in your life. I daily ask God to help me keep my priorities in the right light and ask Him to use me in the lives of my children. I have a duty to teach them the love of Christ and I need to put that before making sure I alphabetized every bookshelf in our house.
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