The Dailies

I don't know about you all, but the entropy of the daily tasks has been a bit overwhelming recently. No matter how hard we strive for order, the natural decline back into disorder is stronger than any of us. Even if the house were vacant, the dust would settle, the food would decay, and the yard would overgrow with even the slightest bit of neglect.

But let's be real, there's nothing vacant about this house. I don't know about your family, but we have 6 live bodies who call our place home, and 5 of "us" are not very tidy.

Maybe it was adding a third child to the mix that's making me feel so helpless in the face of the chaos. Or maybe it has something to do with the washing machine, dishwasher, and microwave all being on the fritz, causing me to have to re-rinse dishes, re-spin clothes, and re-nuke food nearly every time. Either way, the daily chores so often seem insurmountable these days.

In a moms' group I'm part of on Facebook, someone was venting and listed all the tasks she'd performed that day taking care of her kids and home. It was daunting to read, but really not any different than the rest of us. I commented, that it's probably better not to itemize the list, lest it send you into a deeper funk.

There are the big chores, that we can put off and do every once in awhile. I've seen your charts, you're cleaning your bathrooms, washing your sheets, and mopping your floors, a lot more often than I am. But even I, with my "good enough" mantra, can't get by without keeping up with the Dailies as I've not-so-affectionately nicknamed them. 

I've said it before, and so have you, these people in my house want to eat 3 Times.Every.Day. And cereal for more than one of those meals just won't cut it for the rest of them. 

So, we're left with the never ending cycle of grocery shopping, meal prep, clean-up and dishes. I'm really not sure when the last time I saw my entire countertop was, because it is constantly covered in dishes drying, or dishes overflowing the sink waiting their turn for the dishwasher. I cannot make it home from the grocery store without needing to add something back to the list that I forgot or someone just thought of.

And don't get me started on the laundry basket. I have not once finished a load from wash to putting away without dirty clothes appearing in the hamper ready for the next round.

I promise the dog sheds the entire time I'm vacuuming, possibly even more than usual. And now we get to start mowing and weeding because the inside of the house doesn't have enough mess, we're going to try to manage the outside this season too!

All this to say, I can sure get bogged down in the repetitiveness of it all. I can imagine many of you do too.

But I've decided to be intentional about looking at it like this:

For every load of laundry, I'll try to be grateful to have a family healthy enough to play hard, and work hard, and get dirty!

For every pile of dishes, I'll be thankful, not only for the food we're blessed with abundantly, but for the home-cooked meal with my people around our shared table. Time together that will shape each of us as we grow into who God has for us to become.

And every time I pick up toys/shoes/cups from all over the house to be restored to their rightful location, I'll be glad our tribe knows enough grace to leave their junk all over the place like barbarians, without fear of dire consequences.  

At least this is my new resolution. I haven't quite been glad, grateful, or thankful for these dailies much yet, but I've been trying to practice the presence of God as I scrub yet another pot, and this is the place He seems to be leading me.

After all, the loads of laundry in various stages of cleanliness invite the family to participate in the process of restoring order to the home, if anyone cares to have clean underwear. The piles of dishes teach our kids that they're more important to us than a pristine countertop. And the tumbleweeds of dog hair show our loved ones that we value time with them more than the coveted vacuum lines on the carpet.

Now, to decide whether to take a quick Sunday nap or spend time with the kiddos, because I can barely even hear the kitchen clutter calling me anymore. :)

Lord, remind me often that you are more concerned about our relationships than the cleanliness of where we nurture them.

Superman with this precious boy is worth a mess left unattended a little longer.