My Time to be a Martha

 Our CBS lesson this past week focused on two stories from John 12. Mary anointing Jesus with expensive perfume (John 12:1-8) and Jesus' entry into Jerusalem before his last Passover meal. Both we very good but during discussion time I was reminded that each of us has a different love language. It would seem that Martha's was serving others as both times we see her in the Bible she is pitching in, serving her Lord and others, sometimes with the correct attitude, sometimes not. (Luke 10:38 + 40-42, John 12:2) Mary was someone who spent time with those that she loved and she liked to give extravagantly. (Mt 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 10:38-42 and John 12:2-8) Mary may have been mentioned more than Martha, but I don't think that this in any way diminishes Martha, her gift to the Lord or her love for Him. Would Mary have been able to afford her gift to Jesus with out her practical, servant sister by her side? Her gift cost almost one years wages, so I'm thinking not. Only when we as the body of Christ work together, each using our own gifts can Christ be honored as He should.
 I think it is possible for our gifts to change over time. Every time I read Mary and Martha's story in Luke 10 I used to think, "Oh, I want to be like Mary, after all she chose what is best. She sat at Jesus' feet and listened, why can't I be more like that?" It didn't help that many of today's books on mothering , being a good wife/Christian woman, etc all stress spending a large amount of time alone with God, preferably in the morning, ALONE, with NO interruptions. Honestly these books would do two things:
1. Give me a sense of purpose for about two weeks...until I failed and then I would get mad that I couldn't do it, I must not be a very good Christian.
 2.Make a very frustrated, angry Momma out of this girl. I found the days that I got up early made the rest of the day very hard because I was tired. I needed more sleep. When one has autoimmune/thyroid problems sleep is of great importance, getting up early made me want to go to bed early, like 8:30 or 9 early. This made for a frustrated husband who though I didn't want to spend time with him any more. It also meant there was a lot more yelling at the toddler, who really doesn't need it most of the time.
Obviously this plan did NOT work for me, if it works for you that is wonderful and I'm a little jealous, well. I would be if I wasn't in my nice warm bed. :-) The thing that works best for me is to get Seth his breakfast, pop in a movie grab my cup of coffee, Bible Study lesson and plop on the couch. It is not interruption free and several times I rush through my lesson, but you know what, it is all okay, because it is my time to be a Martha. I now want to add to Ecc 3:1-15. Right after verse 8 I want to add another verse..
 "a time to be a "Martha" and a time to be a "Mary."

"HE has made everything beautiful in its time." Ecc 3:11a

"He has made EVERYTHING beautiful in its time."

"He has made everything BEAUTIFUL in its time"

"He has made everything beautiful IN ITS TIME"

Get the point? It is my time to be a Martha. It is my time to be training my son (Prov. 22:6), keeping my home (Titus 2:3-5), honoring my husband (having the house clean and food for the table are two things that keep him happy and honor him), etc. There may come a time down the road when the children are older and can take care of and watch each other that I will be able to spend more time, alone and interruption free that I will be spend time worshipping at my Savior's feet and anointing Him with oil, but for now I am content to be a Martha serving in the kitchen.

3 Things I've Learned as a Mother to a Toddler

Maybe I haven't really learned these but I've been reminded of them many times over the last few weeks.

1. God is a Personal God ~ I've always "known" this but my Seth-boy reminds me of this all the time. He is always running to me asking me to pray for owies and food (sometimes he likes to pray over the food several times in one meal, hopefully that is not a reflection on my cooking.), or to thank God for a good potty trip, books, toys and snow. A constant reminder that I need to come boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) for everything, not just the big things. Sometimes I get it into my head that God only wants to be bothered by the big things, I mean he has to listen to how many millions of prayers every day, does he really want to hear about potty trips and accidents? Seth-boy has reminded me that God wants to be included in every area of my life, not just the ones that I think are important enough to bother Him with, nothing is to small or to silly.

2. Find Joy in the Little Things ~  Finishing a puzzle, building a tower, putting boots on(all of which happen multiple times each day) these things fill my  boy with excitement and joy. Just as Seth finds joy in these I need to find joy in my little things. Little things like washing the dishes- we have food to eat, plates to eat off of, hot water and soap to wash with, folding laundry- I have an amazing husband who provides and cares for his family and puts up with me and I am also blessed with a little boy who loves everyone he knows and goes through many pairs of underwear. Sometimes, in reality a lot of the time, I forget all that I have and start thinking about things I would like when I need to be looking at all the things I do have, things that God has blessed me with and start being thankful and finding joy.


3. Pooping on the potty is a very, very, VERY exciting achievement that is worthy of lots of hugs, many kisses, cheering and of course chocolate chips. ;-)

Striving for Steady Days

A few weeks ago I got this book in the mail. This isn't the first time that I have read it, but this time I wanted my very own copy.

I found out about this book through one of my favorite blogs. www.keeperofthehome.org at a time when I needed to read some books on time management/organization/mothering. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the author Jamie C. Martin.

"I am not a perfect mother. Often I struggle with impatience; sometimes I lack the enthusiasm I long for. I make many mistakes, just like my children. As they are maturing as children, I am maturing as a mother. In any career, experience allows us to grow, improve, and learn. But unlike many professions, many of us mothers have never had any training to prepare us for this new job filled with diapers, tantrums and sleepless nights. We need to equip ourselves with practical tools that allow us to give our best to our young children, helping us thrive is our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. We aim for professionalism in every other area of our lives; why should our children get anything less?"

Speaking of being a contagious mother: "I'm convinced that children also want to be around this positive type of influence. If we don't love what we do as mothers, our children notice quickly, Our attitudes, positive or negative, influence them in a matter of minutes. How can we convey our love for them? By choosing to enjoy the daily tasks we perform, embracing the moments that will never be back again. We can stop what we're doing when the need attention, letting them know how important they are..."

There are four parts to this book broken up into mostly single page chapters. Part one focuses on getting organized and that is the part that I have been focusing on these past few weeks. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to work out a schedule. My goal with this was to: "create a morning routine that will allow me to run or exercise and have the house clean, while also having playtime with Seth before lunch and piano lessons" 

 In the book Jamie gives two different ways of making a schedule: using specific times or using blocks of time. Our first schedule that we tried used specific times, we didn't make it through one day with that one. It felt to confined and I was getting upset when things werent' getting done in their allotted times

 Our second schedule has worked rather well. I used blocks of time ranging from 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. This is what we have settled on so far. I'll give you our complete schedule next time.

Learning to be Content

One of the things any one of my friends or family can tell you is that I LOVE babies!!! I think it only took two or three months after Seth was born for me to start thinking about the next baby, things I would change during pregnancy, how the next delivery was going to go, etc. And as I was doing my Bible study for CBS this week I realized I have wasted so much time thinking about this. How many months of Seth's life have I wasted looking forward to the next child and not just enjoying him? It makes me sad to think about it.
 Yesterday I had my post-op visit with the doctor who did my hysteroscopy. We were talking about when I would be able to get pregnant again and he said that he would prefer that we wait at least 3 months after I finish the 30 day estrogen pill that I'm on. At first I was disappointed, now I'm really happy. I'm looking forward to these last few months that I have with Seth, with our little family of three. Just us in our little house.
 Hopefully this summer I will learn the secret of being content. I should know this by now, but I have a thick head sometimes. :-P I want to be able to say this at the end of my life and mean it.
 "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what is is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11b-13
 So this summer one of my goals is to have as many special moments with Ben and Seth as I can and enjoy our time as a family of three. :-)