This morning as I stared at the toilet in my bathroom, the first thought that crossed my mind was, "I don't want to clean the toilet." Fortunately for my family, the next immediate thought was, "It doesn't matter if I want to or not, it needs to be done and I just need to DO IT." I am embarrassed to tell you how often I have these thoughts of "want to" versus "not want to" go through my head - I love a clean and organized house, but rarely do I love the effort it takes to maintain one. God and time have slowly taught me to let go of what I want, and focus on what is required, but it is still a daily battle.
Why do I share this? To give you permission not to clean your toilets as much? No, it is to encourage you to keep doing (or start doing) what needs to be done. Sometimes - no most times - I spend more time dreading and wishing away common duties, than the time it takes to just do them. A few weeks ago, I carved out some time in an afternoon to defrost and clean out our freezer. Now this might not seem like a big deal to many, but if you could have seen inside my head, you would have known I had spent far too much time wishing it didn't have to be done, instead of just doing it. I have often thought that if the same amount of energy I applied to dreading the tasks, was applied to getting them done, I would be much further ahead.
I am not wanting to drive anyone to becoming more of a perfectionist; in fact, I have watched God set me free of many of those tendencies over time, and for this I am very grateful. Each of us will have a standard that we feel needs to be maintained: something that brings balance to the number of people living in our home, the way our husbands appreciate things looking, the stage we are at with babies and what we can handle, etc... The important thing is to know what is reasonably required to keep your home in the way you feel it should be, given the stage you are at in life. Once you have determined that, you just need to break down the tasks of what it takes to achieve that in a given day / week / month, and commit to stick to it, regardless of whether you "want to" or not.
An example for me, is that I love to be able to keep my bedroom inviting ,and know it is clean and welcoming - for myself and my husband. Therefore, this requires that every morning when I get out of bed, the first thing I do (even though I don't "want to") is make the bed carefully and nicely. It only takes a few moments, but once it is done the whole room is transformed. I also like the bathrooms to look and smell fresh, which requires that the toilets are cleaned on a regular basis - so whether I "want to" or not, I clean (or now some of my kids have to clean) the toilets on certain days. Not only has this allowed me to keep our home in a way that is always ready for drop in guests, it has modeled to our children that tasks are done whether we "want to" or not.
Proverbs 31:27 says of the amazing woman of old, that she, "Watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." When I choose to not eat the bread of of idleness, and I do watch over the affairs of my household; I find great satisfaction and joy. Why - just because my house is clean? No, I believe it is because I am walking in the path that God designed for me to walk in. When we choose to care for our families in what needs to be done, we will find greater satisfaction than could ever be found by pampering ourselves in what we want to have done.
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