Cleaning Systems...Daily Routines

 I've been exploring cleaning systems on YouTube primarily and in the book "Sink Reflections" by the flyLady, Marla Cilley.  I am realizing as I explore this topic, I already have a pretty decent system in place.  Maybe I should start a channel telling about MY system.   There ARE ways however, for me to IMPROVE on my system and constant tweeks are good!  

Here's my system....which I started developing pretty good in the Fall of 2020.  

I already had some daily routines which I have been tweeking and they are very helpful.

My morning routine on work days includes Quiet time in the Bible with my coffee, a 20 minute exercise routine, getting dressed and getting out the door to work.  Rob makes me a breakfast I can eat in the car and at work in my desk and he also does a good bit of bed making.    

My after work routine includes some type of activity such as walking, yard work, gardening.  Emptying the dishwasher/reloading and tidying the kitchen, a load of laundry, practicing the piano.  Then it's time for Supper.  I have developed a system of cooking a meal on Tuesday which we can eat for two days and another meal on Thursday which we can eat for two days.  This is working really well.  (Monday evening Rob goes to a men's Bible study and he eats there, so I can grab whatever at home)

Before bed routine includes loading the dishwasher, a quick kitchen tidy/sweep in main areas, getting my vitamins ready for the next day, making sure the coffee pot has water, getting my clothes ready for the next day and a few minutes in my office trying to stay on top of financial matters, etc.  Then it's shower/bath time and into bed.

If I keep these routines up, life flows pretty well.  And these routines are a little different depending on whether or not the next day is work day.  

In my next post, I will address my bathrooms and kitchen zone cleaning.  

Mid Life Crisis...

 It seems I find myself having a Mid Life Crisis of sorts, AFTER my mid life has passed!  For 30 years, I lived as a single woman, always hoping and praying that there would be someone for me even as I neared the half century mark.  I kept my life very busy with work, family, friends, pro-life activities and political friends and activities.  I had spent years cultivating a life that held meaning and purpose for me, always with an eye towards the future in hope that even yet, there would be someone for me.  

Then, almost overnight, I began a relationship with Rob and we were married five months later.  My life changed completely in very short order.

I got married.

I moved.

Covid happend the next year.

I changed jobs due to Covid.  I went from working in Overland Park, to driving in the total opposite direction to work in Lawrence. 

All this time we have been in a constant state of flux remodeling the house and cleaning up the property.

I quit being involved politically like I was.

I no longer have my music business due to Covid.

I quit attending Nall Ave Baptist Church where I loved playing piano due to Covid.

I thought I was only going to have work like this for one year, then I could ease up on working and focus on my music business and being a wife.  Didn't happen.

I went through Menopause.

I had a new family, who I love, to be around.  (One of the positives)

And I wonder why I feel so lost?  I'm still trying to find my footing!  

Our world has changed so drastically in four years.  Not only did my personal world change completely, but the entire world has changed.  And alot of the change will never go back to the way it was.  

The Apostle Paul felt the pangs of this life when he wrote "...we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.  yes, we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us..."

Having a marriage finally means that I have accomplished one of the deepest longings of my heart.  Now, to build the marriage and deepen it is the priority.  

But, what do I strive TOWARDS now?  My time on this earth shrinks each day!  This reality has become clearer to me and distresses me.  There are so many things I still want to do!  And I'm stuck in a job that has no end.  It's just a J-O-B.  Can I trust God with all of my desires yet unfulfilled?  Can I trust him when the marriage is not a fairy tale?  (No marriage is, by the way).  Can I trust him with my list of dreams?  Longings?  

I believe I CAN!  The same God who delivered Paul, WILL deliver me.  He will deliver me from myself.  My selfishness, my shortsidedness.  He will aid me and bring me into His glorious kindom someday.  

Building Up Our Homes or Building up Other things?

 Having just heard a sermon about generosity and then being given a long list of ministries that our church supports, I am left with a lingering sense of guilt.  My husband wants me to work and save money for my future.  This means that at age 54, being two years post menopausal and a body that is feeling and showing its age, I am gone from home up to 40 hours a week, spread over 5 days per week, including a round trip of one hour per day.  Then, when I'm home, I'm always seeking to stay on top of house work, laundry, cooking, office work, etc.  I struggle with feeling tired, depressed and burnt out already.  I'm also feeling guilty because I don't do more for my aging parents than I do.  And then I go to church and the guilt continues.  I should be doing more.  I should be involved in one of the plethora of "ministries" that the church supports and offers.  Sadly, I didn't hear anything about women being "keepers at home," or "building up there homes" as Proverbs tells us.  In fact, the home was not mentioned at all.  Except for the home that the church has supported for sex trafficking survivors as they transition back into society.   Which, by the way, is a great ministry.  Don't get me wrong.  

I just have two questions...when is the Christian woman supposed to fulfill her Biblical role of being a "keeper at home" and "building up her house?"  And the other question is this.  Would we even need to support so many ministries outside of the church if women were fulfilling their God given roles to start with?  Just some Sunday thoughts to ponder...

Winter Funk...

 I haven't blogged for awhile, since Christmas to be exact.  I sometimes get the winter blues/blahs, and I certainly had that some this winter.  But, after days like today where the sun has shone and temps rose up around 60, it does give hope for Spring!  I am ready to get out of the house, plant potatoes in our garden, and start working in the yard.  I don't enjoy the mowing times, even though Rob does the mowing, I do alot of the trimming.  I like having it done as it looks nice, but I hate getting filthy!  

It's just like life.  Many things I don't necessarily enjoy doing, but I LOVE the results.  Some of these things in mys life I can think of...getting my Nursing CEU's done so I can renew my license again...practicing the piano so I can play to  bless others...getting up early to go to my job so that later I will have money to give, save, invest and to enjoy the fruits of my labors.  So many others, but these came to mind quickly.  

I think  this is just part of living in a fallen world.  One day, when we are with Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth, our primary occupation will be worshiping Him forever!  There will be no sorrow in that!  Only joy forever!

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #15 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

O come, all ye faithful,

joyful and triumphant!

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!

Come and behold him,

born the King of angels.

O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels,

sing in exultation,

sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!

Glory to God, all glory in the highest!

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n!

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!

 

Come one, come all! Poor. Rich. Faithful. Unfaithful. Sick. Well. Near. Far. Holy. Unholy. It matters not. Whatever your soul needs is found in Christ alone. And what our soul truly needs is forgiveness. Forgiveness for our rottenness. For our sinful, selfish ways. Christmas calls us out of ourselves to hope. Hope in the Christ Child. Hope for a new day. A new start. Run to Jesus today!

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #14 The Word Became Flesh

 Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the newborn King:

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

with th'angelic hosts proclaim,

"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the newborn King"

Christ, by highest heaven adored,

Christ, the everlasting Lord,

late in time behold him come,

offspring of the Virgin's womb:

veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

hail th'incarnate Deity,

pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus, our Immanuel.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,

born that we no more may die,

born to raise us from the earth,

born to give us second birth. -Charles Wesley-

 

Important to the Christmas account and more so for us as earthlings needing salvation, is the core theological truth that Jesus became a man; Yet He was still the perfect Savior. He was and is the God-Man. God in the flesh. No human could save us. A perfect sacrificial lamb was necessary to atone for our sins. So, he laid His glory aside, stepped into history, and “veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.” We see God thru Christ. Amazing! Hard to comprehend. But, life giving. He was “born that we no more may die!”

Merry Christmas Eve!

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #13 Move Me Closer

When Michael and Shawna Wright and I used to sing together, at Christmas we’d sing this little song and Shawna would do the narration. If we only were closer to Jesus, how blessed we would be!

“Move me closer,

Move me closer,

Move me closer to the Child.

Let me see Him, let me hold His hand,

Move me closer to the Child.”