Don’t you just hate when someone else’s selfishness gets in the way of your own? I get so annoyed when others get to act on their fleshly impulses while I have to overcome mine. A godly saint would praise God for the opportunity to grow in godliness and to serve selflessly, but I just groan. It is downright painful to give when I prefer to receive ministry.
There. I said it.
What triggered this was a trip to the beach over the weekend. Sounds like fun, right? Well, I was the unwilling participant. After we just returned from Guatemala, my ds and ddil arrived from Canada with visions of a long weekend at the beach with us as a family. It is always fun at the beach – if only it weren’t such a long and barfy road to get there and back.
The beach is only “this” far on the map, but with all the mountains and curves, it takes a full seven hours unless you fly. It’s one thing to suffer “for the gospel” when going out to a village to do something worthwhile, but somehow I can’t make myself do it as willingly for something that should be enjoyable. Being in a vehicle with seven sunburned family members being pushed into each other for seven hours…Face it - it’s character building.
Arriving home after such a nauseating drive, there is the car to be unloaded, fishy smelling laundry to be washed and hung out on the clothesline, supper to be fixed, and of course the mandatory trip to the tienda for milk, eggs, and bread. That’s the moment when I want to collapse. Everything in me wants to give up, but I am not allowed. (Others did.)
That night I was the last one to bed, and the next morning I was almost the first one up. (Dh was the first responder to the alarm clock.) After getting ds off to school (speaking of sacrifices – poor kid!), I spent some nice quality time alone with the Lord and got my heart straightened out. It’s all good.
Again I have love, grace, and joy to conquer the challenges of having three grown kids home when it’s technically not the holidays any more, and home schooling and other responsibilities face me. My question for you: how do you continue with life while you have houseguests? Any tips? Suggestions?
IRL* "For the gospel"...it's an all-inclusive deal.
Oh Jamie Jo, I can relate to your feelings about the beach! I started to tell my family that if THEY want to go to the beach, THEY will have to help unpack and clean up when we get home. (Otherwise it was mom the martyr working while everyone else watched t.v.)
ReplyDeleteOut of town guests: I recently told a guest that he was welcome to breakfast and dinner with us, but would have to take care of his own lunch because I as a homeschooling mom can barely scrape together lunch for my own family. I let him know BEFORE he came, and it did lessen my load a bit. (Gosh, I'm sounding kind of militant here...)
Love, grace and joy to you while you have guests.
I take them through a tour of the kitchen and tell them that I'm not much of a breakfast eater. Please make your own. I make the main comida and then (sometimes) supper (or I make everybody scrounge for that too). I've also learned to leave all the dirty/smelly clothes till the next day. If it really bothers somebody, I tell them with a shrug and a smile, "Go ahead. You are quite welcome to wash them!"
ReplyDeleteSorry about the anonymous. I can't seem to change google to my account instead of my husbands!
Beth
I have learned that simpler is better. Too often, I want to whip up fantastic meals that take all day to prepare and it wears me out. I've learned to fix simple meals that leave me time to visit with my guests, instead of being stuck in the kitchen. I might fix breakfast one morning, but I'm not ashamed to put out cereal, fruit and yogurt on other mornings and let myself sleep a little bit later.
ReplyDeleteWe also go to bed earlier when we have guests. Not always because we are sleepy, but because we want some "us time" to do what we might normally do in an evening - have a cup of tea, check our mail, veg, watch a movie, etc. Somehow that normal down time helps us cope better. That and my husband knows he is on duty more when we have guests and we make breakfast and meal clean up a team event.
ReplyDelete