How did a big pizza stain get 6 foot high on my living room wall?

Welcome to Tuesday Together in the Word (two days late). We are a group of ladies reading through the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs together in 2009, and sharing what we are learning along the way. Visit DeeDee to read other "Tuesday Together in the Word" posts.

Last week, the boys went to the University of Alabama Basketball camp. Steve and the boys stayed at my niece’s Tuscaloosa condo during the camp. This meant that I had several nights home alone. One thing that was nice about the testosterone break was that I was able to clean my house on Monday and it was still clean on Wednesday! It was a great feeling walking in the door from work on Wednesday and everything still being clean. Everything was exactly how I left it. There were no basketballs in my living room, no wrappers on the end tables, no socks scattered all over the floor from sock wars, no half empty cups in their rooms and no pizza stains on the wall over my fireplace (I still have not gotten to the bottom of how that happened). I breathed in all the glory of a clean house and then the thought occurred to me that in just six years I can come home EVERYDAY to a clean house when the boys graduate from high school. Then it hit me- in just six years there will be no basketballs in my living room, no wrappers on the end tables, no sock wars, no half empty cups and no mystery stains. All of the sudden, a clean house did not seem so great. All of the sudden, I was very sad.

During this week, I have thought a lot about our previous week’s Tuesday Together in the Word verse:

Proverbs 14:1
The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

One of my many flaws is that I just can’t seem to disconnect myself from my house. Meaning, I have the hardest time relaxing if things are all out of place in my house. I find it near impossible to sit down, relax and just ignore a messy house. The verse from Proverbs has caused me to ask myself if wanting a perfectly clean house is building up my house or tearing it down? Is it promoting peace and disrupting peace in my home? Obviously, expecting a constantly clean house while living in a house with three guys does not produce a lot of peace.


Since my Globetrotters have returned from camp, I am really trying to make an effort to choose my battles and let the little things go. I am trying to remind myself that my time with them is limited and I need to focus on much more important things. For instance, I resisted the urge to post a picture of the big pizza stain that mysteriously appeared 6 foot high on my wall and instead posted this picture that I believe is much more important:

Blessings to you,

Kelly

Please join us this week as we read Psalms 62-67, Proverbs 15 and Matthew 1-3.