Disastrous or Divine Days

With six people and two dogs in the house, it very quickly can turn from neat and tidy to cluttered and messy. I do my best to keep on top of dishes, laundry, kitchen clean up and bathroom disinfecting, however, two days a week, I "take the day off!" Yes, I am a stay at home Mom, but I also need Days Off! On these precious days, I "take off" from deep cleaning and "work" through the day's messes with a minimum effort. Let's face it, Moms never really get a day off. I could get up early and stay up late, skip Bible Studies and lunches with friends, sacrifice down time and date nights, and guess what, tomorrow, another sock will go missing, the dishes will pile up in the sink, dog hair will still shed, and the to-do list including paying bills, grocery shopping and meal planning will only continue to grow.
Sunday and one day during the week, usually Friday, are my two days "off" a week. Most stay at home Moms don't go around saying that. There is a stigma that we are already "home" so why would we take a whole day off, and for many of us, we feel guilty under the watchful eyes of others to fill each moment. My heart goes out to working and homeschool Moms who's times are not their own especially and yet still have to manage their homes just as I do. They are amazing women!!!! 
For me, even if I don't wash, clean, fold, or scrub something, I will still decide, cook, prepare, settle, drive someone somewhere and pick up something off the floor. A Mom's job is never done. So, Monday is a big clean day. It is the head of the week. With Sunday being my Sabbath day of rest, I pray for great self-control not to "work." Monday is my first work day and like any other job, Mondays are Mondays. There is much to catch up from what happened over the weekend and it's the day that preparations are made for the remainder of the week. I scrub and clean and wash almost all day. Every dish is sorted into the dishwasher or cabinet and all laundry is washed and put up in it's right place (most of the time!) 
Monday night, I feel accomplished as I plop down in bed. My husband always enjoys Mondays as he walks throughout the once disastrous house now all clean and tidy, knowing that every sock has been placed in it's drawer for his next run and his coffee cup ready to be filled. But then there's Tuesday. 
As I crawl out of bed and start the morning, getting the kids off to school, I eventually make it back home only to sit on the couch and stare at my house...papers left out on the table, a cup orange juice on the window seal, pi's piled on the floor and oops...someone forgot their lunchbox. Then I walk into the kitchen...there are dishes....dirty dishes, again. As if in disbelief, I walk into the kitchen and open the dishwasher full of clean dishes to be put back into their cubbies (thank You Lord for a dishwasher), and yet the inner thoughts stir, "NOT AAAAGAINNNNN!!!...I worked so hard yesterday to clean everything up and now there are more...when will it ever be done..." I nearly ran out of the house when my husband comes in and says, "I thought you did all the dishes yesterday?!?" UGH! Yes, yes I did!!!!! 
There is nothing I can do to stop the cycle of dirty dishes and laundry. (And yes, I have done red solo cups and paper plates, but there are still dishes and trash!) Every day brings new dishes to the sink and a dirty sock to be washed, a spill to be mopped up, a dispute to be settled, a person to be driven, bills to be paid, food to be prepared, hurts to be held, hair to be fixed, missing shoes to be gathered and homework to be checked. Every day is also a day of new opportunities, new memories to be made, new conversations to be had, and new meals to be tasted and new arrangements to be played with.
Depending on how I look at it, I can be exhaustingly exasperated or expectantly excited towards every day the Lord grants me. Like my ever multiplying laundry and relentless flow of dishes, so also Satan seeks to exasperate us: 
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10 (ESV)
"Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8b (ESV)
Satan is always seeking after us....but God is persistent in His attention for us too. A life lived with hearts and eyes fixed on God is a life lived with hopeful expectancy and excitement...and joy!

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him." The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him." Lamentations 3:21-25 (ESV)

"I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:8-11 (ESV)
In this life, we will have trials, (James 1). However, it is up to us to wake up to each new day and be exasperated by demands or expectant by the Divine. I don't know about you, but I would like to live hopeful for a Divine Day, every day! May it be so!! 

So, the next time you find yourself starting to grumble over the never ending mound of "life stuff," remember "This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

His heart is for you!