I’m
all about encouraging our kids to help when it comes to doing household
chores. We don’t do allowances at our house because
we think that part of being a family means helping each other out, even with
chores, without expecting something in return.
(Before anyone gets loud, I will say we don’t think that the way we run
our house has to be the way you run your house… there’s nothing wrong with allowances
and we know that there are a number of teaching tools that work and work well…
what matters is that you’re doing what aligns with God’s will & fits your
family best! J)
…so anyway, as I was saying… I love to have help with day to day jobs around
here and my girls love to help with laundry.
Kinley loves to help transfer clothes from the washing machine to the
dryer (she says thank-you every time I hand her an item w/out my prompting which
makes me smile every time, after EVERY piece) and Kylie loves to help fold the
clothes when they come out of the dryer. Depending on the item she’s folded, most of the time I’ll go behind
her (when she’s not looking, of course) and re-fold the piece so that it’s folded
“right”. I mean, who wants to wear a
t-shirt that has 12 creases instead of 4?
You understand, right?? Wellllll…..
today we were folding linens and I started to correct her and then I stopped… "the linens will fit in the closet so much
better if they are folded 'correctly'… they’ll look prettier when I open the door
if they’re stacked neatly on the shelf… things just work better when they are
as they’ve always been, right?" ran through my mind. And then this: "Um, isn’t
that pillow case going to do it’s job even if I put it in the linen closet with
a few extra wrinkles?" (I’ll wait while
some of you gasp when I tell you that I do not iron my bed linens so they really will go on my pillows with those extra wrinkles when I change them out again…pause…pause…
smile!) What’s it going to hurt if I put
it away just as she folded it, without re-doing it? What’s it going to help? She is such a sweet spirited child and
whether she takes note of my action or not, the last thing I want to do is break
that spirit. I know how hard it is to
recover from a broken spirit. I’m sure you could share here, too. Being in relationship with people everyday lends to all kinds of stories... anyway, I
started thinking about things on a grander scale… How many times throughout the
day do I re-do or attempt to re-do something that’s being done because I want
it done the way I want it done?
When we’re
serving with others (be it strangers or even family), we always seem to think
that we have a way that works better… a plan that flows better… a picture that
looks better, etc. but God has seen fit to show me over the years that: NEWSFLASH: not everything is about Dawn
Chappelear… I know... I was shocked,
too! I mean a lot of times when giving
in to someone else’s ideas, we still get where we need to go and sometimes we
even learn better routes. J I will
probably always vote for the easiest route to get from one place to another but
it seems that I’m either allergic or oblivious to the easy route. Only God knows
which route will be best for me. I’m
learning to trust, I’m learning to release my grip of control (sometimes never
having it in my grasp in the first place) and I’m learning that even on the uneasy/hard routes, He has me on the “right” route every time & that “right” route will
bring about the life that I am to live. James 1:4 says, “Perseverance
must finish its work so that you may be mature, and COMPLETE, not lacking
anything.” Not lacking anything.... sounds good to me!
A couple of months ago, my devotion said this,
“We all have a tendency to cling to the ‘tried & true’. The trouble with that is when we are no
longer being stretched we begin to shrink – we become complacent, we think we
can handle things on our own & we stop growing. If you feel restless at heart today &
believe that God has more for you than you've been settling for, then it’s time
to confront your fears, walk through them and launch out into a new experience
with Him.”
I’ve had some time lately to reflect on how much emphasis I put on things that really won’t matter at all in a few months. (soon, I won’t have a washing machine or a dryerJ)
So what about you? Are you stretching or shrinking?
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