Proverbs 24:3-4

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

There's always room for improvement


One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
Proverbs 29:23
Pride is such a silly thing, especially when it forms grand expectations. Yesterday I was brought down in a blazing glory of humility, but sadly, only after stewing in selfishness for a couple of minutes.
Let me paint a picture for you:
All five laundry baskets were overflowing with dirty clothes, one thing that is consistent around our home, so I decided Monday would be laundry day. There is a myth upon stay-at-home-moms that laundry CAN be done all in one day. It was just last month that I attempted to test this myth. I DID IT, almost to the point of doubting what I had just seen with my own eyes. It CAN be done. So, yesterday I gathered up all the baskets at 7am and formed "Mount Dirty Clothes", much to the kids delight---GROSS! Just 30 minutes later I had the first load spinning in soapy water. YIPPEE! I'm sure you can guess how the rest of the day went, but if you can't I'll explain. Laundry was the number one priority, in other words, nothing else got done. I did manage to scoot all the dirty dishes aside to squeeze in enough room to make dinner. Throughout the day as I was loading, drying, folding and putting away the laundry I started to give myself small pats on the back. My smile gradually grew into a full on grin as I anxiously awaited my hubby to return home to give me a big pat on the back, 'wowweee, good job wifey'. Silly pride! Well, there was no pat and began to form an attitude. Silly pride! There was a silent (no words) mention made of the state of the kitchen, though. As I huffed and puffed my way through the mound of dishes, I felt God soften my heart. I was embarrassed about being so prideful earlier to set expectations that were unrealistic, and when those expectations weren't met, I formed a bad attitude towards Hubby. Silly pride!
I finished cleaning the kitchen too embarrassed to even look at Eric and came away with a lesson learned. I plan on putting this lesson into practice. There are so many times when I feel the temptation of pride tugging at my thoughts.
God is so good.

2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Wow girlie. What a wonderful post! I might not have seen it the way you did...but that is to my own detriment. GOOD job on the laundry (I know how that feels!) and GREAT job recognizing where Eric was coming from. I admit it, I would have become bitter. You are a great inspiration!

Joel Engelsma said...

Thanks for the post Jean! Right now I'm looking around my messy house and thinking how nice it would be for my husband to come home to a clean house!

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