Random Thoughts on Surviving Family Life

I get quite overwhelmed with the busy-ness of our lives with three kids some days. I know we aren't really terribly busy right now as mine are fairly young but as they get older we will get busier. I've had this thought floating around in my head every day for a couple of months. A wise friend of mine brought it up during a Familia meeting that..........

If you have taught your children about God, haven't you done your job?

So, here is my new organizational tip for moms who are having one of those out-of-control days. (It's not really an organizational tip but let's pretend that it is related somehow.) Stop whatever you are doing and take a moment to pray with your kids or read a bible story to them. Because in the end, no matter how (un)organized your home is, whatever you feed your family for dinner to get you by till the next meal or even how well planned your budget may or may not be, if you have taught your children about God then you have most certainly done your job for the day.

Peace

I suppose all of us would name different things that bring us peace on earth. Inner peace for me starts with earthly things, or actually the lack thereof. I get easily bogged down when I am preoccupied with stuff. So I strive to defocus my life on stuff or to have the necessary stuff in my life organized in a way that I need not occupy my thoughts with it. This is why home organization is of interest to me. I know people who are not very organized that aren’t bothered by such things and I think that is a quality to be commended. Since that is not one of my qualities, I will continue my organizing ways and hopefully help a few people living less than organized lives that are not feeling inner peace as a result.

Having inner peace allows me to be closer to God and to find time in my day to pray or read scripture with my kids or to just spend the time I have in a day towards something that matters. So I find that spending a little time to organize the necessary stuff of life eliminates barriers to the things that matter.

Family Ministry

I have tried to express my thoughts on the family as ministry in several drafts so hopefully this final draft will get my point across, but please bear with me.

I am sure that I am not alone in the world being a SAHM with small children who would love nothing more than to do some good in the world but feel it impossible under our current circumstances. I know lots of SAHMs that do wonderful things to serve others outside their homes and I am constantly in awe of them. To be able to volunteer at a homeless shelter or feed a meal to the homeless or to donate money to a worthy cause are all wonderful ways to give of yourself. I find it frustrating not to be able to do much of anything beyond save a couple box tops for our school or to donate our clothing when it has gone through the last child. I don’t have family around to watch my kids so that I can feed the hungry to or do anything that very young children can not accompany me to. My husband’s work schedule is all over the place and totally unpredictable so I can not rely on him on any day of the week to commit myself to anything. My predicament is nothing unusual.

I have learned, with the help of a couple different mothers groups at my church, that my family is my ministry right now and that is ok. Doing laundry, cooking meals, cleaning up the 100th meal my adorable 1 year old has thrown across the room and certainly teaching my children about God is my ministry to my family.

It stands to reason then that all mothers with their little home ministries can expand their ministry by sharing ideas and helpful tips about their motherly duties. Some of us are better at some things than others. I happen to enjoy the home organization, meal planning and budgeting areas of family life and enjoy sharing ideas that work for my family. I seek advice from friends that are more gifted than I am in areas like laundry, gardening, child rearing and spiritual life.

Being able to expand my family ministry to other families is one of the main reasons I share my systems, recipes and other things with you. The way I do things are rarely unique but I enjoy these aspects of my family ministry and I hope that there are some moms that might find some of my ideas helpful as I am always looking for helpful tips for my family duties. I’m sure there are friends who think I am over-obsessed with these simple household things but it means more than just meal planning and such to me. It’s the only ministry I can do for right now and that is ok. So for those kind friends who have complimented my blog and thought that I should charge for it (I doubt anyone would pay but it’s a sweet thing to say), please accept my little blog of ideas as my ministry to you just as you all minister to me.

Peace be with you.