When The Dishes Don’t Wash Themselves

You see it in every inspirational momma magazine, devotional, blog, Facebook, and Pinterest quotes. You know, all the sayings about leave your dirty dishes in the sink and rock your babies. Then there is the one about leaving the cobwebs and dust to read to your children and build a fort or play candy land. I love all of these sweet reminders of how to view motherhood. In fact, I wholeheartedly agree that it is about all of the small moments of mothering that build these little souls into God-fearing men and women. But…the question I ask is…

When the heck do you ever wash those dishes in the sink that have been piling up? They aren’t going to wash themselves. I am not super OCD with my house being clean but it NEEDS to be functional and tidy to just keep on living. There are so many great resources out there about cleaning schedules for your home, list of activities to do with your kids, how to prepare amazing dishes every night on a budget, so on and so on. What about how to do all of that??? There are no books or blogs about doing it ALL. Sure there are some that talk about getting up early or staying up later only to find other opinions that explain the importance of rest so you are refreshed for your children.  Let’s face it there aren’t near enough hours in the day to even come close to fulfilling all of the requirements we put on ourselves.

For a little honesty, I compare myself to others sometimes but most of the time I compare myself to this idea of who I think I should be in my head. It is a constant battle going on of trying to decide the best way to utilize my time. For example, the other day I let my oldest stay awake during nap time to finish up some school stuff and read to her. To make that decision was tough! Y’all I LOVE nap time. My mind needs those few moments of quiet to help me make it through the later part of the day. We ended up having such a great time together that I was thinking I needed to let her stay up more often. Here I am the very next day with every kid upstairs in their beds while I type fiercely about all of these thoughts that encircle my poor brain all day.

As I type out all my thoughts I am seeing that there really is no right or wrong here. Sometimes the dirty dishes need to stay put, other times I need to tell them, “Go find something else to do I have some work to get done.” It’s decisions that can only be made in the moment. One thing I know for sure is how greatly I need the grace of God for the momma guilt that seems to seep in no matter what decision I make and for the discernment to make the right decisions.

For some of you reading this it may seem so trivial. You that I would have all day to accomplish this so what’s the big deal? For others you see right where I am coming from. We aren’t just raising kids to say yes ma’am and thank you. Its sooo much more than that. We are raising men and women of God, leaders, and Jesus followers. It’s hard not to crack under the pressure this is a BIG deal. I am confident that with every calling He equips us with everything we need to do the job well.

In conclusion I have no solid advice to offer except to tune  into God and do the next thing He has on the list. He very well may be telling you to get those dishes clean!

Are you right there with me talking to yourself all day? I hope so! Subscribe and share!