When Life Gives You Dirty Laundry, Be Thankful You Have Clothes

Some days I am a Rock Star. I wake up with my alarm clock a few hours before the kiddos do. I spend time reading my Bible and praying. I get some of my computer work done, and even put on real clothes. The kids wake up and our day progresses in a perfect melody of homeschool greatness. My daughter might even proclaim how much she loves math. Well, that may be going a little too far.

 

But then there are the other days. The days when nothing seems to go right, and I feel like a failure. I wish I could say these were the exception, but that would be lying. I feel pretty confident in saying that most women would say it’s at least 50/50; if not tipping a little more towards the dark side.

If you came to visit me right now you would find complete and total chaos. I am not exaggerating when I say that every single room in my house is totally chaotic. My dishes are dirty. My laundry is clean but piled to the ceiling waiting to be folded and put away (my very least favorite household job). I am in pajama pants and it’s 2:00 PM. I’m being transparent here, don’t judge me. As I sit in my recliner typing, the whispers in my ear say “failure, failure, failure”. 

 

 

The voice of my Father would remind me that I have three children, one of whom is a baby tornado. He would remind me that I homeschool, which is a full time job of its own. He would also gently remind me that I’ve been sick and not up to par. But outside of all of that, He would say that He loves me anyway. Chaos or clean. Rock star or failure. His love is not conditional. 

 

The voice of your Father would remind you of the same. He would remind you, sweet mother, that you are working as hard as you can to do everything possible for your family. He would remind you that the condition of your relationship with your daughter is vitally more important than the condition of your kitchen counters and baseboards. He would gently nudge you to change your perspective and instead of seeing a pile of unfolded laundry try to see the blessing of clothing for your family. Dirty dishes are just evidence that we have food to provide for our kids. 

 

Let’s give ourselves a break. We are not superhuman no matter how much we would like to think we are. Our bodies have limits, our emotions have limits, and we need to learn to live within the boundaries of them that God has set for us.