Oh no! Discipline!

"As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?

10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong." Hebrews 12:7-13

Something I have constantly struggled with is the issue of housework. Even though I stay at home everyday, there are days where I do little more than the dishes. I don't want to do housework. It's a lot of work, and while it needs to be done, it's one of those little appreciated things, and it's also not long term. I may clean the bathroom today, but it still will need to be cleaned again next week. It's a vicious cycle. It also used to be a way to hide. I could avoid my daily devotional and time with God because I have so much to do, I have a house to clean, children to care for, I just don't have an extra 30 minutes to squeeze in the Bible. Sorry. Well, I've been doing this devotional time and this blog for over a year now. I think it's sticking, and I know now how wonderful it is to spend time with God before I do anything else for the day.

But I had to be disciplined to do it.

One thing that people confuse is discipline and punishment. Oh how that gets up my craw when I hear parents discussing how they "discipline" when what they're really talking about is punishment. Punishment is the loss of a privilege, punishment is a spanking, punishment is sitting in the corner. That is not discipline, and the two should not be confused. Discipline is "training that corrects, molds or perfects the mental faculties or moral characters." Discipline is forcing myself to back away from the computer and do my quiet time first. Discipline is hard! But we can read right here in Hebrews that discipline is from God. It is God guiding us to where he wants us to be, and you can see in verse 11 that it says right there that no discipline is enjoyable. And let me tell you, there have been many a day where I sat down to do my devotion with anger. I was listless or without joy, annoyed with myself for starting this blog in the first place, and who would really notice if I quit. But as I proceeded into God's Word, every single time those thoughts flew away. And thanks to discipline, I now have a daily habit that is probably the most beneficial daily habit I could ever form.

And now to that housework. I really do struggle with this sometimes. I'll have a good couple of weeks where I keep the housework up, and then something will happen. Someone will get sick, or I'll have a busy week running around, or...something. And then I fall behind, and then I feel like I am constantly playing catch up. I'll let the housework slide for a few days to play with the kids or do some creative cooking, and then I have to spend two days in hard cleaning to be ready for weekly company. It's annoying I tell you- and it's where I struggle the most right now. I've gotten better about not sitting at the computer for most of the day, but it's really hard to convince myself that I want to clean the bathroom, when really, there's a cookie recipe calling my name. Or a book, or a cross-stitch project.

Just this week, I've realized that I needed help. Divine help. I need some help developing a housework discipline, so that I can maintain. What I want, more than anything, is to have my house in such a state that in about 30 minutes I can have the entire house ready for unexpected company. I have a long ways to go, but I'm working on it. And one way I'm working on it is through prayer. I pray that God will help me be productive, and give me a reason to be busy. Perhaps I need a mindset change on that housework? That's one of the tactics I'm trying out this week. One thing I don't have time to do is a regular exercise routine. And while I wish I could, I'm not that willing to carve out that time. But maybe, just maybe, if I do my housework hard enough, it can be like a workout. So I asked God to help me find the motivation to do my "housework workout." And so far, it's kind of working. I've been able to keep the kitchen and dining area clean all week by doing a very fast clean up and decluttering, and I've even gone so far as to scrub walls this week. Hey- it's never been done. And since I like to hold to the thought that God Himself placed the thought to clean my walls into my head, I'm scrubbing the walls. Now that's a workout.

But it's going to take discipline to keep this up. And I'm not looking forward to that part. Today is Friday, and for one part, it would be very easy to just take today off because I've worked hard all week. And that's the difficult part-talking myself out of the well-deserved break. That's where the enemy tries to sneak in and rob me of my motivation, by talking sweetly to me. By telling me that I'm a hard-working mom and that I deserve to take an afternoon off to read a book. Oh, that's a hard one. But then on a day like yesterday, I did allow myself that book time, but not until AFTER I'd done my work for the day- including having dinner made. And you know what, I really enjoyed that small bit of time with my book. I need to remember that. So as hard as it is, I am praying for the discipline to be disciplined. Hopefully in another month or so I'll have good news to report on that one.