Thursday, July 21, 2011

31 Days to Clean - Day 12

Day 12 - The Thing We All Have in Common - Imperfection

No matter how much you think a person is perfect...no one has it all together. Not even your super organized has everything in their proper spot sister that you've been wishing to be like.

She is not perfect, and neither are you. And that's ok!

"We have Jesus' perfection imparted to us for all of eternity if we know Him" - Hebrews 10:14

Isn't that a sigh of relief?!
So why get our panties in a wad over having everything together. Life is just a huge step of faith that we take one day at a time. We all try our best as we fight against a sin saturated world that pushes hard against us. Give yourself a break though. You're not alone in your struggles or your feelings of failure. We are all there! You don't have to be good enough. Your worth does not lie in your ability to clean well; your worth and value lie in Christ ALONE!

Mary Challenge:
Think about some areas in your life where you have been striving to be perfect (or near perfect). Perhaps you are comparing yourself to another mom, or putting unnecessary burdens on yourself because of what someone else has said or written. Take these areas before the throne of grace and ask God to replace and lies you are believing with the truth.

Martha Challenge:
Living Room - Clean and organize shelves and electronics. Shine wood furniture.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Leslie!!!

Day 11 Results

I have to be honest...

I have never washed my walls OR dusted my ceiling.

This was SO foreign to me. I took a warm wet washcloth and wiped down all my walls and then took a swiffer duster and dusted the ceiling. I also took my duster and dusted ALL of the pictures I have hanging in my living room. Trust me...there are A LOT of pictures hung up. I washed the walls the other day when I wasn't feeling good but of course I wasn't sure how well I did it so I went over it again yesterday to make sure I did it right. I didn't dust the ceiling the other day because I didn't feel well enough to. But, now it's done and I feel better. I'm glad I'm going back and taking my time on the days I had before. I feel like it's really clean now.

31 Days to Clean - Day 11

Day 11 - Limitations (Life is Hard)

I will be the first one to agree with the fact that Life is Hard. With all the running around, taking care of kiddos, emergencies, depression, etc. we are very limited to what we can do with our days.

Last night I was dead set on going to bed at 9:30 with Stratton, waking up at 6:30 to take a shower and doing my hair and make up, getting Stratton up, going to get breakfast, drop him off at the sitters, and go to work. This didn't happen. Stratton didn't want to go to bed until almost 11 and just stayed awake kicking the wall. Groucho kept trying to sleep on my face and to top it all off I had the worst gas cramps from dinner. It was well past midnight when I think I actually got my eyes closed for good and yet I was still woken up every hour of so by our dumb cat trying to get comfortable. Before I knew it 6:30am came and went and I didn't get out of bed until 7. I didn't get a shower, we didn't get to get breakfast, but I did manage to get to work a few min early. But the fact is...that's life and Life Happens. We need to recognize that we have limitations and we just need to accept them. The more we with fight with our limitations the more we bang our head against a wall that isn't moving.

If you are someone who is struggling with pregnancy, depression, chasing after little ones, balancing a job and home, etc. just do something that is productive. Clean your kitchen, make your bed, do some laundry, vacuum, or even just put some flowers on your dining room table. This will help with that depression and keep your house looking good.


Mary Challenge:
Let grace cover the areas you cannot change. Don't beat yourself up or think you aren't doing enough. God knows where you are at; His grace is sufficient.

Martha Challenge:
Living Room - Wash your walls and dust the ceilings.