The Clothes on the Side of the Tub
Let me start out by saying that this post is not to make you feel guilty or inadequate. You know me better than that. It is simply to give a little nudge of encouragement, one that will be a blessing in the long run.
Let me further start out by saying that I don’t keep things orderly everywhere all the time. In fact, my desk is rarely very orderly. And I have my stacks of “I can’t wait to get to this but I just can’t spare the time right now” stuff to do. Ray and I talk about the “someday” when we hope to clean out our closets and attic. In times of crisis, even more stuff gets piled up and has to wait until the crisis is over.
However, order is important to us and we have our little rules. We get up every day and get dressed as if we are going to be out in public. When we got new warm jammies recently, we made a rule for ourselves. They are so warm and comfy that we made a decision: No jammies before 5:45 p.m. Most nights it is way past that. Who knows? Maybe in the winter we’ll have a jammie Saturday and wear them all day, but it is important to us to have this daily discipline in our clothes.
Last night before bedtime, I tossed some clothes casually into and on the side of the bathtub for a couple of minutes before I gathered them up to put in the laundry. Seeing them there made me think of order. That scene in the bathtub was an anomaly. I called Ray in to look at it before I picked them up and said, “I’m glad we don’t live that way.” He gave an approving nod. And then, to keep me humble, I walked into the library and there was the jacket I had laid down when we came in from our walk today. So, see? I don’t claim to be a shining example!
But here’s another “however.” In the beautiful freedom of making homeschooling our lifestyle, we do need to model some semblance of order. Ray and I have joked with one another that if homeschoolers get to stay in their pajamas all day, do we get to stay in ours since we are homeschool writers?
Yes, one of the beauties of homeschooling is getting to go to school in your pajamas. That’s okay, as long as our children are learning discipline and order, too. A friend once told me that her mother measured the sides of her bedcover to make sure that each side was even. “Come on!” I say. “There are weightier issues in the world.”
However (again), our children do need to learn how to be on time for a job interview and to be dependable to people who are counting on them. Paul told the Colossians:
For even though I am absent in body,
I am nevertheless with you in spirit,
rejoicing to see your orderly manner
and the stability of your faith in Christ.
Colossians 2:5
That sounds like an appropriate verse for a parent to include in a letter or email to one of their children. So do the next two:
Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in Him,Â
having been firmly rooted
and now being built up in Him and established in your faith,
just as you were instructed,
and overflowing with gratitude.
Colossians 2:6-7