This post has been rolling around my head for a while…I'll see if I can pin it down in a spare moment!
Years ago, the wonderful Danielle Bean posted on laundry. She said that her method was the "Just Do It" method. Rather than worry about how many loads per day, which day, what schedule, the fact was that laundry just simply needed to be done. I've updated the slogan for myself and also extended it to every area of housewifery. Probably five years ago my nephew was dating this completely hip gal from California and I was shocked when she spoke at the dinner table. Someone simply asked if she liked, was it pasta? and she responded with a "hell-yeah". I was shocked because I was raised to be a bit more proper at the dinner table. But then again, I am not a hip leggy blonde from Cali either <sigh>. Watching pro-sports it occurs to me that this once avant-garde response has filtered its way into plain-speak, if not into refined conversation. Unfortunately, I see less of "h-yeah" and more of "f----yeah" in those arenas (just reading lips, you know, say, after an important tackle.) I'm simply trying to justify my much tempered use of these otherwise boorish phrases by letting you know that I could choose something much more bold. I'll simply use something that fits my place in life as a cozy midwestern wife and mother, it's the modified and toned down "heck-yeah".
Here's my theory. Rather than creating lists of daily chores and duties, I have one simple answer to all questions regarding housework. The answer is "heck-yeah". It's my alternative to "Just Do It".
laundry? "Heck-yeah"
Every day? "Heck-yeah"
Dishes? Heck-yeah
wash your floors? Heck-yeah
Do you vacuum? "Heck-yeah"
Every day? "Heck-yeah"
It works this way as well:
Do I need to do dishes? Laundry? Bedrooms? Basement? Oh heck-yes. Every single time. Every single day. I have a GInormous family and my kids are all really close and little. They make huge messes and it's pretty much up to me to manage it all. I am in a full-on mothering moment of life…and that's just how it is right now. So, I have to get-r'-done: heck-yeah!
Now, before I scare everyone off from the idea of having a big family (since my whole hope in blogging is to share the JOY of this lifestyle), I want to say that I DON'T actually work all day every day. I just try. And then, there's the well-timed coffee break. And the sitting in the midst of the mess to read to your children. And the sort of feeling like a rockstar because this is actually my life and I am actually somehow the mother of this amazing group of human beings. A huge surge of gratitude to God for the gift of this life and this family. At the end of these musings I usually end up begging God to help me because there is no way I can do this on my own strength.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
Some things are worth trying to do, trusting that God will make up for what I lack. You know the old saying "work as if everything depends upon you, pray as if everything depends upon God"? That's another way of putting it.
I just sort of like the kick I get out of looking at my sink, floors, and laundry and telling myself: "heck-yeah!"
No comments:
Post a Comment