Sacred Mundane: The Blog

• Family blueberry picking.
• Bumping into friends.
• 33 delicious pounds. Probably 25 lbs. now …
• Crazy answers to prayer.
• Grace.
• Generosity.
• Kindness.
• Provision.
• His hand.
• Interesting turn of events.
• Anticipation.
• Drive to Bend.
• Hugging Mama.
• Kids so excited.
• Grace. (I think I listed this twice. I’m doubly grateful for it.)
• Understanding.
• Praying together.
• Fresh starts.
• Lorraine.
• Old friends. Really old friends.
• Reminiscing about 5th grade.
• Lounging around the pool.
• Conversation around chopping vegetables.
• Foot rubs.
• A place to sleep.
• Warmth.
• Hummus.
• Mountain views.
• Tickling their feet in the car.
• Silly songs.
• Trusting Him with it all.

I sat down just now and typed out this title, then realized there were lunch dishes still in the sink and dried clothes in the dryer.

Apparently I need to read this post. 

I’m happy to say I got up, did the lunch dishes, folded the clothes, and even put them away (applause, please!) before finishing this post. Yes, I’m trying.

We all know it’s true. It’s so much easier to keep a house clean than it is to get a house clean. If we “stay on top” of things, we’re saved a lot of grief–and hours–scraping crusty dishes, sorting mountainous piles of foul-smelling socks, and folding cold, wrinkly clothes from the dryer. It does feel so good to wake up in the morning to a clean home; I find that it dramatically impacts my outlook on the day–whether I feel energized or overwhelmed.

But all that said, I still struggle to clean as I go. And no matter how many good excuses I have, I want to grow in this area. Tsh makes a simple list of the “clean as you go” daily items, and how much time they take–just for perspective on how little time it really takes to keep up:

• making the bed: 1 to 2 minutes
• decluttering the bathroom counter after getting ready for the day: 1 minute
• wiping off the bathroom mirror and faucet from water marks: 10 seconds
• clearing the dining table from the meal (especially if everyone brings their own plate back to the kitchen): 1 to 2 minutes
• unloading the dishwasher: 3 to 5 minutes
• loading the dishwasher: 5 to 10 minutes
• wiping off the dining table: 1 minute
• wiping off the kitchen counters after cooking: 2 minutes
• throwing away items after using them (envelopes, wrappers, etc.): 5 seconds
• putting the magazine back in the basket after I’ve perused it: 5 seconds

You know the deal though, right? The bottom line is that doing all of this takes discipline and focus. And many of us with young kids are constantly interrupted so it does make things tricky, but we can grow even in modeling for them the habit of taking care of things right away. Even as I finished typing these words my kids finished their quiet playtime and were asking to go outside in the wading pool.  I’d love to drop everything and do it–it’s so crazy hot in this house–but I asked them to pick up their books and Legos before we go outside. And now I need to deal with the whining that ensued and the fact that it’s 4:30pm and everyone is tired, sweaty, and needing a break. Time for this Mama to sign off!

So, I’m growing with you — Tsh suggests taking 15 minutes every day to declutter and clean as you go. This is my goal — 15 minutes in the morn and 15 minutes at night.

Please share! How do you “clean as you go” and stay on top of things in your home? I would love to hear your words of wisdom! Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

Whether we know it or not, we’re all expecting. Expecting something.

~

You consider a decision. You pray about it. Perhaps you even fast. You wait for God and sense His leading. You check it out with His Word. You act. You obey. The result?

Failure. Or frustration. Or misunderstanding. Or just total confusion as to how your following God could lead to such a mess.

Have you ever been there? 

The fact that we (I) find this so disturbing or distressing reveals the fact that we believe one of the most subtle and widely held false-teachings in our world.

That obeying God means smooth sailing waters and white teeth. 

Although there are many individual faiths in the East, we tend to clump them all together as “Eastern Religion” because they have so many commonalities. I’d suggest that there is also a “Western Religion” that is not true Christianity, but a strange cocktail of Christian-ish ideas and American ideals. The defining characteristic of Western Religion? That following God means things will go my way. 

This is the religion preached by many. That the “favor of God” will make all obstacles melt away and people will do what I want and I’ll have health, wealth, and popularity.

But I can’t find this anywhere in Scripture. Yes, when we live wisely we will often reap rewards in this life. Absolutely. But when Paul obeyed God he was stoned, dragged out of the city, shipwrecked and nearly starved. When Jesus obeyed God He was hung on a cross. The promise, far from relative ease and a nice new car to drive, is that those who desire to live godly lives will suffer persecution.

That is the promise for us.

But I’ve never seen that one on a coffee mug. 

I don’t like that promise any more than you do. I don’t like that that’s what I should expect when I’m expecting. But I do believe the reason that I’m often perplexed, disappointed, or surprised by hardship is that I’ve following “Western Religion” and not following Christ. Christ says to take up my cross. Christ says the world will hate us because it hated Him. Christ says in this world we will have troubles. Christ says His Kingdom is upside down. The first shall be last. The meek shall inherit the earth.

Friends, we must shape our beliefs and expectations based on God’s WORD, not on Western Religion or American idealism. It is so easy for the world’s philosophy to infiltrate our hearts and minds and slowly lead us to false expectations … to bitter disappointment.

So what should we expect?

Opposition. Persecution. Obstacles. Suffering. Trials. Conflict. Hardship. Storms. But most of all …

Except to see and encounter Him in the midst of it all.

He is found in the midst of the storm, the suffering, the obstacle. When we run from those things,  we run from Him. He is there.

I expect to face these things, and I expect to see His face there. 

That’s what I can expect. 

{Praying that you can see HIM today, in whatever storm you are facing. Bless you, and thank you for reading.}

“Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb.”

-Seneca

Often the hardest thing to say is nothing. Sometimes we are silent because the grief itself is so great. Other times we are silent because we must be, which makes a small grief great.

This week we looked at disappointments that simply last a long time, we looked at disappointments  that don’t appear to be disappointments, or at least that others do not understand.

Our third and final difficult disappointment from the life of Hannah would be:

3. Those that we must bear in silence (1 Sam. 1:13).

From our narrative here, we just see this one verse of silence:

“As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli (the priest) observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard” 1 Sam. 1:13).

Of course her voice was not heard, because this was a very personal, very private issue. There’s no way she could bear her soul out loud, in front of a male priest, about her reproductive issues and the jealousy issues between her and her husband’s mistress. And, since she shared her husband and her home with another woman, she probably had to keep quiet about it at home too. Consider that they probably all lived together! It’s not like she could confide to Peninah or her husband about the problem–they were the problem.

Some of the hardest disappointments are those which we simply cannot talk about. This can be especially difficult in ministry, or I’m sure for those who with very public vocations. Or even just a particular trial or disappointment which is personal in nature. How many women do I know who have suffered silently through the horrible disappointment of a husband who dabbles in pornography? Yes, they may be able to confide in one person, but for the most part the trial must be borne silently. That is right and appropriate, but nonetheless terribly difficult.

Whenever my kids get scratches and scrapes they immediately come to me. They point out the owie, get the kiss and a band-aid, and are on their way.  So often we just wish we could run to someone and show them our owie, get a kiss and a bandaid and we’d be ok, but sometimes our owies must be kept private, and that silent suffering can often be the worst kind.

Thankfully we have a friend who is closer than a brother, amen?  Someone to whom we must confide, must pour out our hearts, someone with whom ALL of our secrets are perfectly safe.  It is altogether appropriate to blab all your garbage to Him. He can take it. He wants to take it.

“Pour out your heart to him.” Psalm 62:8

If you are in the middle of a disappointment that you must bear in silence, I pray God encourages you with this today. Yes, this is one of the most difficult forms of disappointment–yes. And yes, your dear Father intends for you to pour out all that disappointment at the safety of His feet. All your secrets are safe with Him.

Bless you, bless you, bless you, for reading.  I am pleading with God to encourage you today. I love you for reading and seeking Him. Have a beautiful day.