Back atcha
It's so amusing and yet so powerful that a dear friend of mine and I typically travel very similar paths on our separate journeys. Yesterday morning she asked a somewhat rhetorical question but as is often the case she quickly answered her own question. Still, when I read it I had to chuckle because it was as if we lived mirror images yesterday (or today). If you know me you know that I am experiencing a season of growth in the area of re-claiming my sanity. Clutter is my nemisis. I am reading books and blogs, re-reading books and blogs and listening to podcasts about the role clutter plays in the lives of so many people, myself included. Clutter comes in all forms; physical, mental, emotional, financial and worst of all spiritual. I know that I am not alone and I imagine it is a powerful tool of the enemy to ensnare us so that we find ourselves focusing on things that should not be our top priority. Getting and keeping our priorities straight - now there's a real challenge!
One of my problems in the past has been that I did a lot of reading and blogging and researching and talking about getting my priorities straight and working through the mountains of clutter (of varying forms) in my house, my head, my heart and my soul but ACTION didn't always follow up what I was learning and discovering. Sometimes I got moving and put some of what I learned into action but it quickly grew old or overwhelming and I gave up or got distracted. Never much progress. Understanding that ACTION is key to working through some of my challenges I have made more headway these past few months than ever before. Perfection is not in my vocabulary - please don't misunderstand :-) Progress not perfection is one of many of my new slogans.
Recently my dear husband agreed to take over enforcement of the chores in our home. I have resisted this for YEARS feeling guilty that I couldn't handle it by myself (and running interference between him and our kids - another story altogether and one for another day another blog) One of books I read recently (which described me pretty much in detail) suggested that as "highly distractible moms" we ask to "borrow" someone else's brain. As kind of a joke I actually announced to my husband one day that I needed to borrow his brain because he has an exceptional sense of observation and attention. When I explained to him what I was talking about he willingly agreed to let me borrow his brain! Guess what? It worked. He and I are now working together as a team to get a POA (plan of action) put together so we both clearly understand what needs to be done when and by whom. My chuckling about Robin's blog post was initiated by the deflated feeling I had last night as I watched him engineering a "chore chart" the likes of a congressional bill going to the Hill :-( I started to slump in my seat as he kept asking questions and adding to the Excel Spreadsheet... Lord, here we go again!!!!! Only this time the enemy has snared my knight in shining armor! What will I do if my only earthly hero is captured by the enemy too! Who will rescue me from the insanity of THE CHORE CHART!!!????
I prayed about it. I detached. I prayed about it. I surrendered it. I peeled the onion. I prayed about it. And then it came to me - failing to plan is planning to fail. It's not so much the lack of planning that has haunted me all these years; it's the lack of follow through (ACTION) on those well laid plans. Plans for the management of our household, plans for our finances - aka a budget, plans for the education of our children and so on and so forth. You probably get the idea. I used to be the best planner around. Somewhere along the way I gave up and threw in the towel. I never saw fruitful results from all my hard work planning and the truth is I was not so blind that I didn't know it was actually because I didn't follow through. I just didn't know how - or worse - I didn't choose to follow through with the necessary actions required to make a plan work. Sometimes the truth just hurts.
I may be late in the game but I'm not using that as an excuse to give up. I have some habits to create and some to break but God's timing is perfect. We may only have the older kids in our house for a few more years (maybe less) and then we'll only have one but I believe it's never too late to learn. They also have some habits to break and some to make but if it's part of God's plan then that's just what we'll have to do. Our chore chart is a bit more challenging with the myriad of schedules but we all need to pitch in and work together. We have grown so much as a family in the past couple years and I believe that this is somehow part of that continued growth.
So, as John says, the chore chart is simple Quality Control for us. QC - I think I like that better than chore chart.
In the end, the plan won't be perfect and neither will the execution of the plan but we'll keep our priorities straight and having a road map will help us do just that. It will free us of the confusion and distraction that blocks the "sunlight of the spirit".
One of my problems in the past has been that I did a lot of reading and blogging and researching and talking about getting my priorities straight and working through the mountains of clutter (of varying forms) in my house, my head, my heart and my soul but ACTION didn't always follow up what I was learning and discovering. Sometimes I got moving and put some of what I learned into action but it quickly grew old or overwhelming and I gave up or got distracted. Never much progress. Understanding that ACTION is key to working through some of my challenges I have made more headway these past few months than ever before. Perfection is not in my vocabulary - please don't misunderstand :-) Progress not perfection is one of many of my new slogans.
Recently my dear husband agreed to take over enforcement of the chores in our home. I have resisted this for YEARS feeling guilty that I couldn't handle it by myself (and running interference between him and our kids - another story altogether and one for another day another blog) One of books I read recently (which described me pretty much in detail) suggested that as "highly distractible moms" we ask to "borrow" someone else's brain. As kind of a joke I actually announced to my husband one day that I needed to borrow his brain because he has an exceptional sense of observation and attention. When I explained to him what I was talking about he willingly agreed to let me borrow his brain! Guess what? It worked. He and I are now working together as a team to get a POA (plan of action) put together so we both clearly understand what needs to be done when and by whom. My chuckling about Robin's blog post was initiated by the deflated feeling I had last night as I watched him engineering a "chore chart" the likes of a congressional bill going to the Hill :-( I started to slump in my seat as he kept asking questions and adding to the Excel Spreadsheet... Lord, here we go again!!!!! Only this time the enemy has snared my knight in shining armor! What will I do if my only earthly hero is captured by the enemy too! Who will rescue me from the insanity of THE CHORE CHART!!!????
I prayed about it. I detached. I prayed about it. I surrendered it. I peeled the onion. I prayed about it. And then it came to me - failing to plan is planning to fail. It's not so much the lack of planning that has haunted me all these years; it's the lack of follow through (ACTION) on those well laid plans. Plans for the management of our household, plans for our finances - aka a budget, plans for the education of our children and so on and so forth. You probably get the idea. I used to be the best planner around. Somewhere along the way I gave up and threw in the towel. I never saw fruitful results from all my hard work planning and the truth is I was not so blind that I didn't know it was actually because I didn't follow through. I just didn't know how - or worse - I didn't choose to follow through with the necessary actions required to make a plan work. Sometimes the truth just hurts.
I may be late in the game but I'm not using that as an excuse to give up. I have some habits to create and some to break but God's timing is perfect. We may only have the older kids in our house for a few more years (maybe less) and then we'll only have one but I believe it's never too late to learn. They also have some habits to break and some to make but if it's part of God's plan then that's just what we'll have to do. Our chore chart is a bit more challenging with the myriad of schedules but we all need to pitch in and work together. We have grown so much as a family in the past couple years and I believe that this is somehow part of that continued growth.
So, as John says, the chore chart is simple Quality Control for us. QC - I think I like that better than chore chart.
In the end, the plan won't be perfect and neither will the execution of the plan but we'll keep our priorities straight and having a road map will help us do just that. It will free us of the confusion and distraction that blocks the "sunlight of the spirit".
Comments
Post a Comment