Monday mornings are typically our family “recover from the weekend” cleanings. I used to have a whatever approach to schedules, but six kids no longer affords me that luxury…or penance. However you want to look at the glass…
So…first thing Monday morning, we start with our usual morning cleaning which I refer to as ordered chaos. So long as the house is cleaned to my standard, it’s all good. This past Monday morning, though, I found myself relishing in a very odd chore. You see, when we moved into our new home, we traded carpet {i.e. kid noise padder} for almost all hardwood and tile {i.e. kid noise amplifier}. Desperate for a soft spot to crash in front of the t.v. my husband and I agreed on a super cool looking rug from Crate and Barrel…until we saw the price. Instead, I found a nice knockoff from Overstock and ordered it. We rolled it out and got it all set up. We loved the new look.
Then it started to shed…
and shed…
and shed some more.
You could make a whole new animal with what we pulled up. And we were just getting started. Desperate for a solution, I turned to my Catholic online support group and asked what could be done to get rid of the shedding. We had clogged up the vacuum twice with no real success in getting up the fuzz. So, I snapped a pic and asked for help. The almost unanimous advice was to get rid of it. It turns out it was a wool rug and seeing as I had no experience with rugs prior to its purchase, it was absolutely the wrong first choice in rug purchases. It didn’t matter. We weren’t getting rid of it. Good or bad, we were going to keep it.
Accidentally, at the same time the advice was flying in, I found an odd pin on Pinterest about using a window squeegee to remove pet hair and I thought hmm, I wonder if…I bolted to get the squeegee and VOILA! A solution! But boy, oh boy, did that fuzz come up! It took a while, but between scraping up all the fuzz and going behind it with our shop vac, I found this to be somewhat cathartic.
It’s not a chore that needs to be done too frequently, but it’s the kind of chore that allows my mind to wander and drift in and out of conscious thought with God. It goes a little something like this:
We named this one “Jerry.”
Said to teenager – “Watch Brother while I work on the rug…” ugh, I have so many things to do today with my blog, I wonder how today’s post will go over with last minute changes…ok, God. What should I work on today? Tomorrow is Josie’s birthday and I need time to make her cake, wrap presents, find something clever to make for her birthday dinner… ::interruption:: “Can you STOP playing with the ball of FUZZZZZ?” Ok, where was I? So I can’t believe all the trials and sufferings going on with my contributors. It’s gotta be spiritual attack, Lord. Please help me to realize that You allow these things to happen so we can be spiritually pruned, yielding more fruit to glorify You when the storm has passed…::another interruption:: “Josie, please get off the shop vac. No, I will not vacuum your leg. Thank you for asking me and not sticking your leg straight on the vacuum…this time.” Ok, so like I was saying…ugh, I forgot my train of thought…
So, the point of that nonsensical rambling is that my mind just goes toward God and I let him hear what’s going through my mind and I listen for His advice. I find that when I immerse myself in the mundane, He makes Himself present. This past year has been a whirlwind of events, from starting a new contributor blog that has gained momentum I could not have imagined, to finding out we were expecting #6 within weeks of starting our second year of homeschooling and then moving at 8.5 months pregnant. Were it not for being forced to, I wouldn’t have learned the value of placing things in His hands and trusting His plan over mine. Through all those life changes, I realized that if I focus on my primary vocation as wife and mother, the rest always falls into place. Always. Even when I stink at making them my primary focus, God still blesses my time. It’s a constant balancing act that requires constant assessment and reassessment.
Where do you find God in your everyday mundane?
