Bible Study - giving honor

Did you know that Esther speaks of wives giving honor to their husbands?  Did you know that that is the very reason she became queen? 

Esther 1:20 "When the king’s edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small."

How do we give honor to our husband?  One way is by serving him.  Lately, the prayer of my heart has been to see the house through Carpenter's eyes.  It takes quite a bit of effort for me to know what he desires, though he has given me a lot of clues over the years.  He knows I have a lot on my plate, so only occasionally will he mention something that I have been missing.

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I have been trying to step it up in one way in my house.  Once I feel that I have that "under control", then I move on to the next area.  The area I have inadvertently been caring for this past week is the basement. 

In my opinion, the basement is the last area to clean in my house.  I mean, no one sees it, except the people who shower down there (my husband and older boys) and the ones who do laundry (me) and the ones who stoke the fire (my husband, the older boys and me).  Otherwise, no one else goes down there.  By far, more important on my list is the front (actually back) entrance - people come through there all the time.

But when I go down to do the laundry in the morning, I have been taking five minutes or so to clean the bathroom and sweep.  Not a huge deal, doesn't take very long, but apparently it's super important to Carpenter.  How do I know?  Because almost every day this week, he has come up from his shower before work and said, "Thanks for all that you do around here." 

That's it.  That's all.  I actually questioned him about what he meant that first day, just to see what caused that comment.  "The basement looks really nice."  That was all.  Don't get me wrong, he does thank me all the time for things that I do.  But I could tell that this was beyond - thanks for caring for our house.  Something new.

And it took FIVE minutes (or maybe a bit more).  Here I thought that upkeep on the basement would take FOREVER, and I would be cleaning all day every day in order to maintain it.  Today, I do need to work on the entrance area.  But that should take.... drumroll please.....FIVE minutes (or maybe a bit more). 

Lies tell me that my job is impossible.  Lies say "You could clean the basement but it would take you forever and you would never be done."  Realistically, the basement is not spotless.  We keep firewood in a room down there.  Every time you take wood to put in the fire, you have wood chips fall to the floor.  So it's dirty.  The cobwebs probably will NEVER be all gone. 

I let lies keep me from doing what I should all the time.  "The cobwebs will be back, so what's the point?"  Really????!!!!!!  The dishes will be back too, in less time than the cobwebs, but I still work on those at every meal. 

I need to be able to recognize these lies and do battle against believing them.  I need to take up the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit.  One way to do battle is to get some facts.  Time yourself cleaning the bathroom. Just make sure it doesn't have to be perfect.  Mine never will be, but it will be clean. 

Or maybe the bathroom isn't the area you're struggling with.  Time yourself on that area.  Only do 15 minutes with it.  See how much you accomplish in that short of a time. When you do this, you'll have some facts and maybe that job won't seem as daunting. 

As I said before I've been praying for ways to hear my husband's heart and desire for our home.  I rebelled against what I knew to be his desire for many years.  "It's too much work."  God has brought me to the place where I now desire neatness like my husband does.    It has taken growth, lots of growth.  FLYLady has helped me a lot.  That's where I got the idea to work on just one thing. 

My tendency is to take on the whole house, and then exhaust myself in the process.  Her idea (FLYLady's) is to take on one area for a month.  Then add something new.  This takes longer, but it becomes habit instead of haphazard.

I'm pretty sure this has been one of my topic's before, but I hope that it helps someone to stop listening to the lies that it'll take too long.  Test it and see, maybe it WILL take too long and it's something you need to set aside or hire someone else to do - maybe it won't and you will bless your family.

Making the most of today,
Steph