Unity of the Family
Walking through the house was a challenge. Every space was filled with discarded papers, toys and clothes. The chore list had been ignored and the results were chaos.
The last thing I wanted to do was clean the house. My work took up enough time so why should I be responsible for everything else on top of earning a living. My husband only added to my frustrations by complaining about his own job.
I got up this morning and got ready for church. The sermon was on keeping unity in the church, but I heard “keep unity in the family.” I spent the last couple of days whining about the mess and not a single minute working on cleaning the mess. I may not have said a word, but my actions and attitudes fostered an atmosphere of disunity.
Guess what I did when I got home.
It only took a few minutes to pick up the family room. The dishes took a little longer, but the job will be done as soon as I can put away the ones finishing up in the dishwasher. All of the craziness around the house came back into order in about an hour.
It leaves me time to wonder. How much time and effort am I wasting on other issues in my life? I have to believe that if I moved the effort from fret and worry to action that everything would come back into balance. The speed that the house got done also leaves me thinking that the turnaround for other parts of my life would go faster than I am imagining.
I know it is my job as mom to teach my children responsibility and accountability. I know that they should be involved in the day to day chores around the house if they are going to know how to do it when they have their own house. But I also know that staring at a pile of clothes on the dryer will not move those clothes into the drawer. And I know that a sink full of dishes will not clean themselves (although they seem to invite friends to join them).
The balance that I found today is get them to help when they are around, but never wait for them to show up to get it done.
I am through complaining. Unity is my goal and it starts with an attitude of action.
