April 24, 2012

Day 24: Interrupted by Freedom

I'm writing daily this month on being interrupted by grace.  Learn more and join in here.


This morning afternoon when I showered, I got to thinking about how much there is to do and how many competing guilts I have in my head about how I'm doing, i.e. failing.  I so quickly take things that are good - spending time with the kids, keeping a neat house (read: making sure no one trips when they walk across my floors), blogging, home education - and turn them into strangling idols so that when I'm tending to one, I'm distracted and feeling guilty that I'm not able to keep up with the others as I'd like.  For example: guilt about not playing with the kids when I'm tending to housework, guilt about not tending to chores when I'm playing with the kids, guilt about sitting a minute to recharge with coffee and a book when the floor around me is littered with mess, guilt about letting the kids watch tv, guilt about not being the mother, wife, friend, sister, etc. that I should be.  Seriously, it can get ridiculous at times!

I love all of the books and blogs that encourage me to pursue my calling as a wife and mother with gusto and faithfulness.  But sometimes my little brain can't handle it all.  I'm so caught up trying to figure out how to prioritize things, how to "be all I can be," that I forget to BE, allowing Satan and my sinful heart to tempt me to guilt and despair, fear and remorse ... further pulling me away from being in the moment.

God's grace interruption today was the freedom to fill each moment with whatever seemed to be most important or even just okay at the time.

I think this verse is becoming a theme:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  Galatians 5:1

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Here's how we spent the rest of the day in freedom.  And you know what?  I enjoyed every moment!

There's sickness in the house, so we watched a movie!

While the kids had rest time, I finished up this ironing and did some organizing in the laundry room.

We played trains and Katherine joined us half way through !



 

After feeding Katherine, I needed to tend to our bedroom, where Katherine naps so it is regularly ignored.  As proof: tomorrow is laundry day and I still had my clean clothes in the basket from last week, with the dirty ones in a pile on the floor!  Having been given the freedom to choose tasks today as moments presented themselves, I was able to move from hanging with the kids to tending to some tasks without guilt.  It was glorious for my heart!  And will be good for my body too; I can get from the door to my bed without tripping.  Yee-ha!

The kids came in at one point just before I needed to get Katherine down for her late-afternoon nap.  I was rushing to finish up a few things, Elizabeth wanted to play some hand clapping games and I was teaching her a new one, when suddenly the dresser about 3 feet from us started tipping, all of the stuff tumbling from the top onto the floor ... AND BRIAN!  In the short moments Elizabeth and I were talking, he'd started opening my dresser drawers, from the top of course, and the dresser began to fall over on him!  Thankfully (again, God's grace) the bottom drawer stuck in the carpet, so the dresser didn't tip too far, but he did get a good bonk on the head from something that fell from the top.  Jeez Louise, my boy!!!  He won't let me leave you believing it was all roses around here, will he?

Anyway, after that it was pre-dinner showtime (Wild Kratts!) and the return of this guy for dinner.  We're all just as fond of him as Katherine!


How was your day?  How did God meet you and/or interrupt you with grace?

2 comments:

  1. Heather,
    You describe a perpetual curse of being human that even Paul dealt with.

    Romans 7:19 "I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do."

    But God is good and the people who love us are forgiving!

    Also, wonderful pics, especially the one of Colin and Katherine! It must be heartwarming for you to witness the love between your husband and your daughter!

    Gladys

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    1. Yes, I love that one with Colin too. She adores him!

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