Consistency

Someone asked me this weekend how I have time to blog.  Guess I don't have a lot of time to do this, but this my way of getting my thoughts on "paper" as it were.  I find when I log how things are going, I'm more inclined to see a way through to progress.  I do this during our quiet time or sometime during the day when things are somewhat settled. 

Today, I'm picking up after a week of somewhat discouraged work.  That kind of work is not too productive as you all know.  For one thing, I was exhausted last week from some late nights, part of those were my choice and others were not.  Other things happened during the week to leave me feeling somewhat defeated. 

Over the weekend, I asked God to renew my mind, my strength and my desire to serve Him.  He did in a place I least expected it.  You see, God knows all of the things I love doing and one of those things is organizing.  Don't ask me to maintain it after it's organized, I'm not so good at that.  It's one of those things I'm working on. :) 

I was working in my kitchen making breakfast and I found myself bumping into my husband who was either making the coffee or getting it, not sure which.  I couldn't get to the flour etc without him moving and I didn't really want to push him out of the way so I could get on with my agenda, after all we're working on serving one another.

This was where the coffee pot was.

All of the sudden it hit me that the coffee and the mugs should be together and that the edge of the kitchen by the fridge would be the best spot.  But that meant the spices would have to move.  So I ended up re-organizing my kitchen.  It gave me a fresh start to my Saturday and I was excited to keep on organizing until things were in their place. 

A much better place

That start helped me to continue on to a fresh start on Monday.  Last Thursday I made a new chart with definite schedules of things to do throughout the day for the little ones and how the older ones should fill their schoolday and when piano should fit in there so that it's not waking the baby etc.

Today we started it.  It's taking all of my time to keep people on track and to work with them in the areas they are struggling in, but that's my job.  Sometimes it's draining, but quiet time is a well-known time to them all, so while it took a bit longer to get everyone where they were supposed to be and settled, now I have a few minutes of my own, almost an hour actually.  It's a time to refresh myself and prepare for the last half of the day.  By the time QT is over, we have only three hours till parents come and pick up their kids.

Consistency is the key, but as I said before maintenance isn't something I'm super good at, not good at all really.  Even though I know I'm not good at it, it doesn't mean I'm throwing up my hands in despair and it doesn't mean I'm saying, "Oh well, I know I'm not good at that, so I'm not going to try." No, it's my thing to work on and it encourages me to see progress. 

One lady came to visit our house and said, "I can see that you are getting settled into being home full-time, the house is so much more organized."  Although I feel a stab of embarassment at the fact that it used to be unorganized and messy because I was working a lot outside the home, I am thankful that she saw the work God is doing in my heart, and her words made me realize that I have come along some. 

"He's still workin' on me, to make me what I ought to be.  It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.  How loving and patient He must be!  He's still workin' on me." 

I don't know if you know this song, but I love it.  I'm so thankful that He never gives up even though He's gonna be workin' on me for a lifetime.

Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."