The Work of Parents

Today I had a mom of three come in and chat for a bit.

After chatting it became very obvious that she is starting to get burnt out with all the things she has to do for and with her children. Taking them to practice. Going to games. Helping to fundraise for every event and activity each of her children are in. And to throw into the mix, her husband is gone a lot on travel.

She says, "It's my fault for having so many kids in the first place."

My heart hurt at this.

That's not a fault. Not at all. It's a blessing. And yes, blessings due come in disguises, but that often offers little relief.

Parents can easily feel so helpless when trying to do the best for their children. And saying no to things to try to limit their hectic schedules often leads to guilt.

So the answer?

I don't really know if there is one.

But I do know that if you prioritize, put God in control first, everything else will fall into place.

Fingers crossed.

Tidy Freak

I have become very aware of the fact that I am not a tidy person.

I would consider myself clean though. You know, I take showers regularly, throw the trash out, and put dirty clothes in dirty clothes hampers.

But, not tidy.

I don't usually organize the mail when it comes into the house. I leave piles of paperwork around. I don't put things back where they are supposed to go. To me, that's not dirty. No bugs will be attracted to my piles of papers.

It seems like the majority of my day consists of trying my best to keep things clean AND tidy. And that's a lot of work!

I would just prefer to keep things clean.

My office. My classroom. My car. My house (broken into rooms that need to be clean and tidy).

Whew!

Just the other day I tidied up my office and someone came in to see me and said how great my office looked.

Guess things aren't really considered clean until they are tidied up as well.