Fly Lady

When I was a stay-at-home mom, I worked harder than any 9 to 5 job that I could work. The main reason was that there was pressure to "Do it All" and to "Do it Best". I was daily engulfed in the day to day jobs of making food, doing laundry, cleaning house, and doing what I thought was my "duty" to do.

I balanced home life with a billon other activities that I found to be extermely important of a stay at home mom. I wanted to do everything little thing that I found to be characteristic of my vision of what made a successful SAHM.

As my kids grew older, enjoyed being a part of more activites, and had social calendars I realized that doing it all was not working. The one area that I tended to consistently let go was my housework.

I love a clean house (mainly because my momma brought me up thinking that one thing out of order in a house equaled a diaster!!!)I love the smell of burning candles, pledge, Pine Sol and dryer sheets! I love to go to bed under freshly washed sheets. (My Aunt Sue told me when I was younger that you get to make a wish every time you crawl under freshly washed linens)

Yet, my love of a clean house was let go due to the lack of wanting to let other areas of my "life" go. This is when I found Flylady.

I got the my control journal and in no time (HA) I had a plan of action of how I was going to keep a clean home. I spent hours (I mean HOURS) planning out my plan. I even went as far as to do all my cooking once a month so that I could "fit it in" to my schedule. After a year or so, I started to let go of my Flylady plan of action.

I did develop my own version of Flylady. I still have certain task that take part on certain days. I still like a clean sink and I still have a few morning routines that I stick to, like swishing out my toilet in the morining. (Ironically on a side note, I was told that cleaning my toilet daily with a little swish of the brush was actually a sign of being clinically depressed. That whole story is a different blog article in itself!)

This year, I am trying to balance how to reinstate my Flylady plan without hours of valued time planning. Just wondering what all my friends do to keep their homes in order (and clean)? Do you have a daily chore list?

My Explanation

I remember the awkardness of being a teenager and the inveitable "peer pressure" of those around me. I can think back to every single pivitol moment in my life and pinpoint the exact person that I found influential in my decisions to handle the situation I was in. Some of these moments are regrets and some are achievements. While I am fully responsible for each action I took I am also reminded that others pushed me to succeed or fail(by an action or sometimes an inaction). This is not me casting blame or giving credit to any one person but simply remembering that those I surround myself with influence my actions.

As I was reading Genesis 4, I was reminded once again of why this thought is so important to me.
Gensis 4:7 says:
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

For myself, it is more of a matter of my own self-control and ability to make sure that certain aspects of life do not rule over me. It is the thought I want to impress upon my children in this time that they have If they simply do what they feel is right (which I prayerfully hope is based upon their understanding of God's word) then they will never have to have regret over something they knew not to do. Sure, there will be curveballs that have to be dealt with but hopefully those come along less frequently.

It will always be struggle to do what is right in every situation. The fall of man was an act of a simple disobedience of eating from a specific tree, but the consquence was moumental. God said NO, Adam and Eve said YES.

In my mind, my thought process is this: "God tested Adam and Eve with the simple boundary of something they could not have. They failed to accept the "NO". It was not a matter of the fact that they commited a horrible crime. God simply put a boundary of what was best for them and they chose their own way."

If no sin had existed after Adam and Eve until the age of Misti, I know I would have failed. Why? Because, I have done the same thing. I have known in my heart a simple "NO" from God and chose to act on my own for my simple yes. I did not count God's eternal plan in the equation. Luckily, thus far God has not banished me from a land :-)

So for today, I will be reminded that I am unaware of why my answers to God might have a monumental impact on a master plan. Hopefully I will live daily to have more times when I do the right thing in every situation. If I don't, I will cling to the grace and mercy of Christ who is the only reason I am worthy to be a part of the plan at all!