Struggling To Get It All Done

a short 3 min read

“MANAGERS OF THE HOME”  -we’ve been called that, but it appears I am not a success at this.  My name would not appear on the “Top 3 Hire List”, if we actually got paid for this.  Failure seems to be constant when it comes to managing my home.

But I have concluded getting the dishes done, kitchen clean, laundry done, (who’s kidding themselves…laundry done? Isn’t it just getting enough laundry done so everyone has clean underwear!!!) all the simple things that help a household run smoothly are always going to be “CHALLENGES”,  especially for people like me. I’m not sure if you are in this camp but…

I’m a FINISHER and an OPENER (loosely taken from a book I’m reading “Better Than Before” by Gretchen Rubin). I love getting started on new things. This is a trait of an OPENER. And I love it when a task is done(for good). This is a trait of a FINISHER.

But those things which help a household run more smoothly don’t fall in either of these categories. They are never OPENERs, for they are always on going… and they are never FINISHERs because if I think “Oh, how lovely the kitchen is clean”, then someone comes in and puts a dish on the counter or makes a snack or sits at the table.

See it gives me great joy to see all the chairs pushed in, table wiped and light off but this is not the nature of the kitchen, is it?  –To be unused– But part of its essence is to be used, and used often and repeatedly.   As I continue to grow, I’m challenged to look at these things according to their nature, not as I would like or want them be. They are what they are.

A few years ago, I began reading “The Oeconomicus”- A treatise on the Management of a Farm and Household.  It’s a dialogue between Critobulus and Socrates. It spurred me to see the things I possess, “the goods”-(like laundry, dishes, etc) as they truly are – and as something to add to my “wealth”. I realized I often tried to make them to be something they are not. I often viewed them as something they are not. Take the kitchen table as an example. I was content and happy when the table was clean and wiped, the chairs pushed in and the lights off. But I had to consider what was its purpose and if I was viewing it in light of its purpose.

The items we possess are meant to be “a good” in the sense that they are fulfilling their intended purpose. They are NOT “a good” if I am trying to make them something they are not.   As they will never fulfill their purpose if I am trying to make them fulfill my purpose for them.  My purpose for them has to be inline with what they are by nature…. And this is the contemplation that needs to accompany the action of not only keeping house but our call as homeschool mamas.

 So the inspiration to contemplate is:

Do I allow things to be as they are by their nature?

Do I struggle against what they truly are?

know their nature // know their essence // know their purpose // exercise prudence in using + managing our “goods”

-and all will be well, with the grace of God!