For those of you taking the 31 Days to Clean Challenge with me I have a confession. It's day 3 and my fridge is not clean! It's organized, I'm a bit type A, but it's not wiped down, and I haven't gone through all the contents yet. Yet, I'm not a FAILURE, and neither are you! (assuming you too have not cleaned out your fridge)
My old self would be yelling at me right now, for having failed to follow through on the assignments and it's only day 3. My new self knows that my priorities for today, my typical day off, did not include getting the fridge cleaned out, and that's OK!
What I've learned in the first three days of this journey are that I need to be a life giver. I need to invest in the people around me that are important and make sure that they are are feeling love. Sometimes I give life to those around me by making sure my home is in order and clean or at least straightened. Sometimes it's by providing clean clothes and having the dishes where they need to be to be used, or on today's list purchasing food. Other times it's by not making my family feel like they have gotten in the way of what I had planned for the day. For instance, today my son needed to go downtown to the Clinic for an appointment. He shouldn't feel like it was a hassle for me to take him, and that it messed up my schedule. He should know that I love him, and that despite the reasons for having to go downtown, I enjoyed the time I got to spend with him. Otherwise, by making him feel burdened by "having to go downtown" I'm no longer giving life to our relationship. This lesson mainly came from day one.
In day two we learned to define our vision. This quote from page 25 speaks loudly to me " I need clarity and peace and space to think, both physically and mentally. When there is a mess swirling around me on the outside, I internalize it. For me, chaos outside equals chaos inside". I know this about myself. I need things to be organized and tidy before I can even start working. Knowing that, I have established that I need a clean home for me to feel less frantic and chaotic. If I'm less stressed my family is less stressed. How does this play out in my life? It that means that I will make it a priority to straighten the kitchen first thing in the morning, or put the mail away as soon as it comes in. That works for me, as then I'm able to focus on other things. Sarah Mae reminds us that we need to have a vision or purpose or we will stay in a rut. The Mary Challenge was particularly good this day. It helped us seek out why we do what we do. I hope those of you following along were able to determine your vision and are looking forward to working on making it happen.
Today, Day 3 helps us to discover our rhythm. We all have a different rhythm. Living out the priorities we set is not always easy. We need to discover, as I did today, what has to happen, and what we can let go. For me letting go of my time with God is something I don't want to do. I try to make that my first priority after getting the lunches ready and kids mostly out of the door. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I have to find the time later. Regardless, I know it is what keeps me moving forward. Yes, I would love to be done with this study in 31 days and have a perfectly clean house at that point. It may happen, but I'm ok with being behind because I know that today I got done the things that had to get done today. While making dinner I still may take the time to straighten the fridge some, yesterdays assignment, or wipe down some cabinet doors, but if I don't get to those things until the weekend that will be ok too.
Moving forward is more important than sprinting and not learning anything. Keep your eyes focused on your vision. Take a step a day, and know that our journey might not always be identical but regardless we're all in this thing called life together. We have hills and valleys and sometimes beautiful country roads and sunny skies!
Happy Reading and cleaning! Off to accomplish the next priority which has to be the load of laundry that needs folded and put away!
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