In these times when we are inside all the time there have been many jokes about the relationship between husband/wife and mothers/children, I don’t think they are unfounded jokes, many situations are real and occur in your home. in the messages because they are absurdly true and often deep down, we wanted to have the courage to publish them as well.
It is well known that a very hot topic is the organization of household chores in this time of pandemic What to do and how to do it, when a troop cancels out its exploits throughout the day?How can we judiciously balance our roles (wife, mother, daughter, maid, worker) How is this reflected in the organization of our homes, in love for one’s neighbour, and in God?
- I don’t mean to give just organization and cleaning advice.
- This can be seen on millions of websites and tutorials on YouTube.
- I would like to talk about how the original organization helps us and reflects our love for those who are cared for.
- And finally.
- It reflects our love for God.
Following the example we see in Matthew 22:37-39 and Ephesians 5:18 through 6:9, our priorities should follow this order:
Dieu
Husband
Children
House
church
carreer
COMMUNITY
We cannot reverse any element of this list or measure the success of these relationships by the time we spend with these people/things in our daily lives.
I can say that I spend 80% of my time between the house and the children, but that does not mean that they are at the top of my list, they cannot reach the top! The way I treat my husband and children, take care of them and love them, has to do with my relationship with God, which is the first.
Colossses 3:23? Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as for the Lord and not for men.
There’s a lot of disorder in our hearts when these priorities change. When we love our spouse more than God, there is excessive and possessive jealousy (where is he?What messages are on the phone?). sin, also known as idolatry.
The same goes for our house. For some, keeping the house tidy is first and foremosf taking care of the joy and pleasure of husband and children; having a house that looks like the cover of a magazine is more desired than living with God than having intimacy with the Lord and serving others. letting him make a fuss. Toys become the enemy of storage. The hall becomes (usually) the largest temple of idolatry.
Other times, it’s not children and their toys that are the big problem, but visitors, which can be even more misleading. We opened our house to be ‘hospital’ but as a result we have complaints and self-pity:
“Did I work hard and work hard all day to get visitors?
“Have I been preparing food since yesterday?
“Wow, look at the land that stayed where they went?
“Have you seen how these kids are without manners ?!Did they spoil my wall?”
Who’s never been there?
Instead of the home serving as a refuge and place of communion, we have begun to serve our home, that is, we love the environment in which we live. I remember one moment when my daughter got a pink graphite pencil and filled it with glitter on the outside, but inside there was a basic pencil to write. He kept this pencil for over a year without using it. One day, while I was saving the closet with her, behold, I saw the pencil and asked her to put it in her backpack for use at school. In a hurry, he told me he didn’t want to use the pencil, because it was beautiful and he didn’t want to spend it. So I told him the pencil should have stayed in the store, so I was sure it wouldn’t wear out and we could go there from time to time to visit the pencil, without having to take it home. . However, now that the pencil was already at home, it must be used, because it was created for this, it should be used in the school lesson and spent on the service.
The same goes for our house, if we have it, but we do not allow it to be used for the purpose for which it was built, so it does not serve us, it would be better to leave the land un urbanization, so it would be not spent for nothing, but if we have the house we have to use it to shelter, to spend it on serving the family that is inside , some of us live to the point of idolize the house to such an extent that she looks like a goddess that she cannot be disturbed, she needs to be clean and organized all the time so as not to get angry, and then cleanliness and sharpened organization are above the well-being and freedom of the family, taking care of every minute and activity. developed inside, everything becomes the ideal of having the magazine cover at home forever, at hand.
“We love him because he loved us first. If anyone says: I love God and hate his brother, he is a liar; because he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, cannot love God, whom he does not see. Now we have this commandment from him: that he who loves God also loves his brother. 1 John 4: 19-21
Taking care of the house and keeping it clean and tidy is a way of loving others, in these times of isolation my neighbor is very close, since we live together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The structure cannot have an end in itself, it must be in the interest of serving those who are there, those who can enjoy having things to use, and if any disorganization comes with this use, it is for the good of those who they enjoy the house.
So, if I clean my house, wash the dishes, mop the floors, etc. , it’s for the sake of my family, and it’s up to them to feel good in a less dusty environment, with less risk of damage. Infections or food poisoning due to health problems. A move is a living house, it’s a house where things aren’t always in place, but where everyone knows the place of things and knows they’re in their safe place.
As boring and repetitive as it may seem, my work as a housewife honors God when I serve my neighbor in the best possible way and love those whom God has given me to care for every day as I love myself. that whoever has commanded me and let me work is a God who loves me and works incessantly, then I must stop looking with pride and pride at the works of my hands and I must seek it with humility and submission.
And don’t get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll harvest, if we don’t pass out. So as long as we have the opportunity, let’s do good to everyone, but especially to the family of faith. Galatians 6: 9. 10
We should always consider who stays in the house, who lives here?Your home should be maintained primarily for your family and not for the visit you may arrive at without notice. The visit comes and goes. The family stays, the house is family and not the visit!Even if in this period of social isolation we do not receive visitors, it is an idea and a recurring speech in the heads of housewives: “Imagine if a visitor comes here now, what do you think when you see this room like this?
Usually, extreme zeal for the house is related to fear of men, we are wrong to think that it serves, and in fact steals the time, warmth and even joy of our family, replacing it with stress and life. appearances.
“He who fears the gunman, but he who trusts in the Lord is safe. “Pv 29. 25
And then we look at ourselves, stressful and irritating husbands and children for an organization of appearances and not a necessary and healthy organization for the well-being of the family.
Some of the expectations we have, we enslave them more than they force us to serve. Wanting everything to be in order can be harmful. Let us remember the example of Martha and Mary (read Luke 10:38-42). the things that happened in Martha’s head that day, because she knew who was in her house, Mary also knew it, it was the Messiah, Martha was agitated back and forth to do things and worried about household chores, her goal was to be a good hostess, but the cost of what she wanted to put on Mary who chose to fraternize with the guest. In her quest to serve well and be hospitable, Martha remembered only the work and let her overlap with communion, forgot about the guest, forgot to be at the feet of Jesus, Christ did not exhort her because he was doing the tasks of the home, he exhorted her because it was the only thing that occupied her reflection.
Our work at home and in the church must be at the service of communion, not at the expense of communion. How often do we see people leaving the service without listening to preaching (spiritual food, the good part) to go prepare hot food?dogs or coffee in the church kitchen?! So we also do it in our homes washing dishes and other concerns too, instead of enjoying the time we spend with family and visitors. I remember having lunch with a family after morning church service, only after dessert, I offered to help with the dishes, the hostess snarted me and told me that I was supposed to go to the living room and sit on the couch and talk, because the dishes would be later, when we left, so that she would have the opportunity to remember our time together and relive the conversations. Let’s pick the right part!
Just because you may be more concerned about residents than visitors doesn’t mean the house should be upside down when you book with someone to visit. It is respectful that the visitor has a house in order. But also, you don’t need to leave your loved ones (children and husband) standing because of the visit. Good cleaning and planning is required for the organization.
It is for our family that we have to work so that everything is in place, it does not mean that everything must be 100% tidy at all times (it is impossible!). But everything has to have its place. Toys may be on the floor of the room, but when stored, they must have a box or other specific place for the child to know where to place them, and the same must be true for other objects and utensils in our home.
I particularly like to organize and organize things. This does not mean that my house is always tidy, but I work better if the house is more tidy and if I find what I am looking for I need a minimum of organization in the kitchen to be able to start cooking, I also notice that children play better when the toys are separated by types: blocks, carts, puzzles, dolls, etc. It’s much easier to take the box with blocks and offer to put together something knowing that all the pieces are there, rather than going out as a treasure hunt looking through all the toy boxes and corners of the house looking for what you want. It also helps when it comes to saving, because every toy has its place, even the little ones can understand how it works.
It is very important that you talk to your husband about how together they can make the house more comfortable for those who live there and for those who come to visit you, it is important that he knows all that you can accomplish at once and how often receiving people per month This is necessary for his information, because often the husband does not participate in the preparation of food and the storage of the house , so you don’t know how hard it is to receive and may think that you may receive visitors. Several times a week. On the other hand, men are more practical and help us solve problems easily and quickly. This sincere and loving conversation can avoid frustration, anger and tiredness.
However, remember that serving and receiving requires work. And the job is time spent, it’s spending on each other. Otherwise, I wouldn’t call it work, I’d call it leisure!
Children are tools God uses to polish us and help us grow in love and wisdom.
In Proverbs we see repetition: “My son, listen to your father’s teaching and do not abandon your mother’s education” in many different ways, from chapter 1 to the end of the book. This should encourage us to teach our children to obey, serve, and love their parents; We should repeat these verses to them whenever necessary and teach them the fifth commandment and all that flows from them; it will also help them grow in love and service.
Our children can help (and a lot!) To organize the house. From a young age we have to give them tasks to learn and develop skills in their duties, even if they do not do it perfectly we must continue to encourage them to do so, because it is through practice that we learn. I’ve heard several times about a certain girl who doesn’t do the dishes as well or as fast as I do, so I have to tell you that when I was her age, I didn’t wash as fast as my mother. but practice made me stay faster.
Everyone can be assigned age-based tasks, there are even tables on the Internet that can help you, or you can determine for yourself what each child is able to do, they can learn where to store objects, clothes and especially toys themselves, this is where designated boxes make it very easy.
Children are our legacy (Psalm 127. 3, 128. 3). Inheritance only works if used well, otherwise it can be wasted and ended without serving us. There is nothing wrong with teaching our children to serve. There are parents who complain that their adult children don’t help them at home, but many of those same parents have rarely asked their children for help. It is a fact that, as a rule, adults do things faster and more primacy than children, but when they are not allowed to do it simply because it takes longer, it hurts them and not well, because they stop being trained. . Saving them from service can make them foolish and selfish. Even if you have someone who cleans up, you have to teach them. One day he’ll grow up and he will. They have to do and teach their little ones to serve as well.
In doing so, we are helping to forge in our daughters the desire to be devoted and happy wives to take care of the house (Prov 31. 10-31), and in our children appreciation and importance for the common life of the house, as you can see in 1 Peter 3. 7:
“Husbands have also lived the common life of the house, with discernment; and, considering your wife as the most fragile part, treat her with dignity, for together you are heirs of the same grace of life, that they may not be your prayers. Interrupted.
Even if you want to use this time at home to do things you can never do on normal days, I don’t think it’s safe for you to want to clean every square inch of the house or move everything, keep it full, with everyone in the family all the time inside it. This will bring you endless stress, as many things are likely to be incomplete and everyone will be very irritated by constant cleanliness and small communion.
While the world constantly denigrating the woman who wants to take care of her home and does not recognize the value of this work, the scriptures encourage us to be the wise woman who builds her home (Pr 14:1?A wise woman builds it). house, but a madwoman with her bare hands destroys her. ?) Part of building the house is how to organize, plan and serve those who are there. (Prov. established. ?)
Nothing planned can work. Even if we get up early, make lists and plan our schedules, we can lie late at night in our beds with a sense of defeat, with a huge list of things to do that have not been done. this has affected me !!!
But thank God he is preparing us for a new day, a new morning with renewed strength, and we can say, “This is the day the Lord made; rejoice and rejoice in it. “
Let us therefore return to Christ, that he may make us wise and virtuous, women who humbly help their husbands, who watch over the proper functioning of their house and who do not eat the bread of laziness (Pr 31:27), but at the same time love those of the house more than the house itself.
Setting our priorities helps us understand our finitude and shortcomings. Loving God first will guide us on the path intertwined with work and service, duty and pleasure, love for one’s neighbour, and idolatry, because these things are not necessarily contrary, but they can conflict.
Pastor C. J. Mahaney says: “Only God can complete his complete list of things to do every day. We are not God, we are finite creatures, with serious limitations.
Good to know that! It is liberating and must lead us to the humility to recognize our weakness and dependence on God. Everything God has commanded you to do that day, you will!No more, no less. The only one who filled out all the items on his list was Jesus. Nothing and no one has been left behind. The tasks performed fully, at the right time, in the right way, only Christ.