April 5, 2007

Verse of the Day:
“For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

This week hasn't been too bad at all, even with the back. I guess you could even call it a good week! Of course, my busiest 2 days were Monday and Tuesday as Monday is my grocery shopping day and Tuesday I had an OB appointment, a play date, and an errand to pick up DearDaughter's 15 month pictures at the mall. The rest of this week I've been working on God's command of one anothering.

From my previous posts, it is known that I am doing 2 30 day challenges. The first is the organizational challenge and the second is a no TV challenge. The first is in consideration for my husband. A few weeks ago DearHubby gave me 6 priorities he considered important for this household. #6 concerned the frustration he had with the clutter in our laundry room. I've been working on this project here and there, but I hope the 30 day challenge will help me put this motivation into high gear. I definitely have to complete this project by July as I know I will not have time after DearDaughter2 is born.

My second challenge I've taken on is in consideration for DearDaughter. She has been developing so quickly and she knows so much. As a result of her quick development, I have somewhat taken her for granted and somewhat neglected her to do things I want to do. I came to this realization that I was neglecting DearDaughter when at the end of the day all she'd want to do is just cling to me and fuss when I try to cook dinner. Not only was she fussy from being tired, but I know she was fussy because I just didn't give her enough time during the day.

I struggle with balancing the mommy and wife act and since DearHubby had given me his priorities, I wanted to please him. Yet, as a result of focusing too much on DearHubby's priorities, I was neglecting DearDaughter. I also wanted time to do things I liked too and even wanted time to do things for others outside of the home. What's a woman to do? How can she be considerate to everyone and not kill herself?

Well, God is a God of structure and order. God's creations are such evidence of that from the tiniest matter to the bigness of this universe. Not that I was being lazy with my time, but I didn't provide that structure for DearDaughter. As a result, I was fighting against her rather than having her work with me. Even though I've only been on this no TV challenge for 2 days now, I'm already seeing a difference in DearDaughter's contentment. In addition, because she is content, I am "free" to work on chores. I must admit that it is a challenge because I have to be more diligent in "planning" and more diligent in following through with things, but I am hoping that this will help open opportunities to serve DearHubby better and to serve others better.

There was such a temptation to just turn on the TV at one point because I just wanted to get a chore done at the time that I wanted to. However, I realized that if I didn't spend time with DearDaughter at that moment then chaos would break lose. It turned out that once I got her into an activity, she was all right for me to leave and I actually had more time to finish up the chore that I wanted to finish.

It is definitely a hard call to be considerate of other's needs before my own. The temptation is to care for myself first and sometimes in order to care for another better I do have to care for myself first, but the temptation is to care for our my own wants and desires first over any one else's. It is truly a sacrifice of self and I know that I can only do this through Jesus Christ who suffered himself because he loved me and it is because of this love that drives and guides me to even want to do this for others and especially for His glory!