Finding salvation in folding socks

I stumbled across a beautiful blog this morning.  It would be a perfect companion on your Lenten journey.  Here is a post that spoke to my heart, and to some of my struggles as a wife and mother.

Our work is so often repetitive and unappreciated.  But in all of my reading and listening lately, it seems like those are the places in which we can show God the greatest love.  If we are experiencing them, they also are likely the places in which God can most help us grow.  (We just need to ask for the grace to not run away from them.)

Someone has found a new favorite pastime!

There have been a lot of birthdays around here recently!  Here is Kate
celebrating her 7th Birthday with Great-Grandma!

If motherhood was full of pats on the back and exciting work recognized by all the world for the valuable thing it is, would we seek it out of love for God and our family, or out of love for ourselves?

What looks like repetitive drudgery is actually such a beautiful, priceless jewel: our salvation.  It is an opportunity for us to decrease, so that He may increase. (John 3:30).  It is our opportunity to love those around us -- to really love them (and the One who has blessed us with them), and not just the satisfaction that comes when the world recognizes a job well done.


Nick actually said "Katie" the other day! You can imagine how happy she was!

My husband celebrated a birthday too!

Sometimes I wonder if I really matter to my family -- or if my worth here is merely found in the work I do for them.  But that is such a lie!  I am the daughter of a King!

I tell my children Jesus would have died for them alone; those words are true for me as well.  I worry about my children finding their value in things they do instead of in who they are in Him; I must remember my value comes from Him as well.  It is good and necessary to teach my children to grow in gratitude and in orderliness, but whether or not they thank me, and whether or not the house stays clean long enough for anyone to notice it, is not where my worth is found.  I do these things for Love, but I am Loved regardless.

We now have a teenager in the house!

God loves us, and certainly gives us all we need to walk closely with Him.  So if what we find all around us is laundry, dishes, people with whom we often struggle to communicate well, and children in need of an education, then that "is enough."  Let us accept the work in front of us with a grateful heart, and with trust in a Father Who will undoubtedly "give good things to those who ask him" (Matt 7:11).

God bless you!